RP:And We Danced
Summary: Brennia is throwing a pity party in abandoned Cenril and when Sidd arrives to this party he steals the show. She laughs really hard for the first time in a long time.
The Whalers' Bar
The Whaler's Bar is a well-loved destination in Cenril, and at any given time the sound of raucous laughter and the buzz of talk will be audible from outside its walls. Inside will often reside any number of individuals from all races and walks of life, as the owner has made it clear that all are welcome within his tavern. It is a space especially beloved of the fishermen and sailors who frequent Cenril's shores, and has the sort of worn homeyness that can be expected from such a haunt. The building is made of sturdy oak, though the interior is dingy from time and innumerable patrons. The original dark stain is faded and scratched, especially on the floor, but despite its flaws the Bar is kept cheerily lit by lamps. The bar itself is narrow, pitted and glossy, and at the end of the day finding a seat along its length can be a difficult thing. So too is the task of cleaning made difficult by day's end, and no matter the attempts made at wiping spills and sweeping the floor, surfaces are often dingy and sticky -- not that the regular clientele cares about such trite things as tidiness. Indeed, various old trophies from local sailing legends line the walls in a cluttered display and it usually smells of seawater, sweat and fish. Assuredly The Whaler's Bar is a scarred, beat up bar, but to hear the locals tell it there is no better place for a drink after a long day in all the port cities in the land.
Brennia was having a rough go at things since she last saw anyone what was friendly to her and she came to Cenril knowing that like half the population had disappeared so she wouldn’t be bothered. She also knew that any students or guild members wouldn’t be coming here and she sits alone in a dark corner possibly drunk. All that was able to be seen about the woman’s face is her chin since her large sun hat was pulled over her face while she stared down at the tabletop. “Waiterrrr,” she sing songs out and when someone comes over she slides her empty tall glass over to them and they bring her another. She was pretty much wearing the same beach clothes that Sidd last seen her in and she drinks some more of her cranberry & coconut rum drink before sliding it aside and putting her head down on her arms crossed on the table. She was not having a good night, but she didn’t seem angry or confrontational. Only when some beefy hick saddled up and tried to get a dance out of her would he get the finger.
Sidd was set out on an exploration adventure tonight. He had come and gone through Cenril pretty often, but never once took an actual tour through the side streets. Having been in Kelay the night that those awful curses were unleashed, he seemed to get off pretty lucky, unlike those who now suffer, or have disappeared. Those that disappeared, have not gone unnoticed. It was was strange, really. He had been wandering about the large city for hours, but the population was so damned void. Maybe there was some sort of festival in another region that had people migrating? At least the shops and pubs wouldn't be crowded, he assumed. A soft creaking sounded as he pushed open the door of the Whaler's Bar, three steps forth before he would pause and survey the establishment. It looked awfully quiet in here, too. "Yo. Uh, beer?" he asked the barkeep, placing a few coin down upon the counter. When his beverage was served, Sidd opted to go find a seat, and as he did so, took time to spy on those he passed along the way. It was that familiar attire that caused him to stop, one brow perked as he asked, "Brennia?"
Brennia lifted her chin to reveal a resting bitch face, but once she noticed it was Sidd a smile beamed brilliantly across her face which caused dimples to poke adorably into her cheeks. “Sidneyyy,” she said the name as she usually did and a touch of sweetness to it, but a slight slur. She pulled her hat off and smoothed down her long silky hair while she stood up to the same height as him so she may hug him. It would be at this time he could notice she wasn’t wearing a tank top under her loosely knit shirt, but an actual bikini top. He may find she’s swaying a little and she chuckles softly before pulling away, “howare youuu?” She actually doesn’t look as broke out in hives and scars (save for the love bites) as she did in their first encounters, but those wings - so shiney now that it’s as if she’s all healed up and less tired. If he noticed her eyes he would see they are red a little, either from crying, herbs, or exhaustion, but given the booze situation - it was probably a lot of crying lately. She looked down at the empty chair next to her own and pulled it out, “‘ave a ssseat?” She shrugs before plopping her fat arse back down into her own chair and gulping some more of her drink down.
Sidd wasn't expecting the hug and happened to be a little caught off guard; One arm pulling away to save his drink from being toppled out of his grasp, while the other found itself slinging around the Avian's torso. "Yooooo. Whassup drunky?" he teased. When they separated that familiar bodily contact, Sidd took a quick look from head to toe over the woman with a bit of grin. She looked much better than last they met- Physically speaking. Although, those red eyes and that whole idea of her sitting alone drunk in a quiet booth struck him as odd. "Nobody drinkin' with ya?" he asked, looking around for a potential missed friend. "You okay?" Obviously he wasn't a stranger to a good ol' depressed drink-a-thon. Sidd slung his backpack off of his bare shoulders and set it down next to the table, while at the same time pulling out the chair and having himself a seat.
Brennia emits that adorable raspy and rare giggle at his teasing. Her smile still present when he asks of friends, “hah, nooo. I’m not alllll that friendly - apparently,” she thinks on Artia a moment, hasn’t seen her in ages, thinks on Hudson and Alvina, but suspects they’ve got their own troubles and right now she definitely cannot talk to Wisax about this. His last question caused those stunning blue eyes to avert from him and to her drink, but in the quiet between them those slender fingers tap on the tabletop as if she were wishing to play the piano; nervous habit. When she looks back at him again she has a sort of pained look on her expression and she is unsure if it’s the booze or the fact that Sidd seems to be genuine, but she shakes her head no at being ‘okay.’ She downs some more of her drink before offering the subject, “exes…” Then a shrug, but if he asked she would tell and hope maybe he has, like, a worse story maybe. He seems the type to have a good ‘bitch about life’ session with.
Sidd bares his teeth with an expression akin to watching someone step in a pile of dog crap. "Ah hah, yeeeeah. I totally feel ya." he says, taking a drink from his beer. The human sits back in his chair, one hand finding his lap as he studies the woman's sorrowful body language, a moment taken to ponder if he should press on or not. They were friends by now, right? Or at least pretty good acquaintances. Empathetic, he decides to ask, "Well, you wanna spill the beans? What sort of ex troubles are ya havin'? I mean, if you don't wanna say so, you can be all 'Sidd, shut the eff up', and I'll totally put a sock in it." A bit of a playful grin was offered as he added, "But if ya need to rant n' rave, then I'm pretty good at listening. Most times. Tell Dr. Sidd. What troubles ya?"
Brennia crosses one tattooed leg over the other towards him and fixed a warm smile on him, “you’re sweeeet.” Eventually her smile dwindles while silence grew between them so her thoughts could fall together for a second and she takes a deep breath before clearing her throat gently. In a more sobering attempt she begins, “have yew ev’r just met s’mmeone and right away you ‘ave this, this… This intensity between the two of you.” She leans on the table now a bit towards him, “not in my hundred and thirrrty-s’mmthin’ years had I found something like that…” She was smiling subtly, “it nev’r mattered that hes-a vampire, but event’lly we fell for one’nother. Open relationship and all.” She sighed before taking another long sip, “eventually I.. I want’d somethinn’ more, but he didn’nt. We split a year ago an’ havn’nt seen each other ‘till… ‘bout a week ‘go.” She rubs her forehead lightly before massaging her temple and continuing while her tattooed hand runs through her long black hair, “you feel hot and collld at the same time. Heart like it's poundinn’ through a vat of molasses and an ‘lephant sitting on your chest.” Somehow she explained both an intense love and heartbreak while drunk, “thaaas not evennn the worss part.” She finishes off her drink and waves to order another.
Sidd gently snorts at the woman's first traverse into her thoughts- he could relate way too well to that idea. "Yeah. Once." he commented simply, before following along with the rest of her explanation. The next part, mostly the admittance of her age, earned the Avian a look of disbelief. A hundred and thirty something years? He really shouldn't be surprised at this point, but it still caught him by surprise. Still, he did not comment, instead opting to just take in the things she was letting out. He nodded, relating well to that mixed feeling of running into someone you longed for after such a long time of being split up. He nursed his drink, question soon posed as an effort to glean more to the story. "Oh? What's worse, then?"
Brennia lets her hands idly twirl a lock of raven colored hair and she shakes her head, “he did’t wanna commit to jusss me. I nev’r thought I would see ‘im again… ‘specially since I couldnn’t feel ‘im through our pe-” she hiccups, “perm-an-ent bond, meanin’ he cannn feel what I feel ‘nd sometimesss hear my thoughts.” She rolls her eyes, “it’s difficult when you tell ‘im yerr ov’r ‘im, but he can feel itssa lie.” Letting out a sigh she holds onto her glass again and hicucps, “on top of allll that… I had mov’d on an’ I ‘ave boyfriend like me, avian.” Because it’s apparently not obvious she’s an avian and she lets out another sigh, but it was more frustrated this time as she sets her forehead on the wood of the table, “I don’nt wanna leave him, not in tha least… But ev’ry time I’m ‘round my ex.. It’s a deadlyyy mix of that firsst intesne meet ‘nd heartbreak allll wrapped in one like sommme awfulll burrrito.” Her hands were on her stomach because just talking about all this was making her guilty, “I’mmm tha worssst.”
Sidd shook his head. "Worst? Nah. Doubt that." Leaning back in his chair, Sidd interlocks his fingers in behind his head, watching over the woman as he takes in her confession fully. A gentle shrug starts his next words, "I mean, you're not the first to have these thoughts. Most of us have had that whole, 'I want to move on but I miss'em' thing going on. But I'd totally suggest against doing anything to eff up what you got going on." Sidd's chair tipped back and he began to rock on the hind legs, idly trying to balance himself as he delved into his reasoning. "I've been there. Love so crazy and passionate, but there were problems. Y'know? Eventually it was a split. Was a good thing, because that crap was toxic to the core. We tried a couple times after the split to get back together, but it was always the same. I realized then, that generally, once something's done- It's for good reason." His hands separate and quickly reach for the table as he started to lean back too far, almost taking a spill right there in the tavern. With a good embarrassed laugh, he ventures on. "If you've moved on, or want to move on, then just tell'em to piss off. For good reason. He's the dude that didn't want to be exclusive, right? Ya think he's changed?" Sidd sips his beverage as he watched Brennia with her head down. Was he really the guy to be giving advice like this? "Look, I don't know the dude. I don't know what you guys had, or what you've got now, but from experience- Going back to an ex, even as friends, tends to never work the way you want it to. Keep that in mind before you decide on anything, oi?"
Brennia lifted her head back off the table with a smirk and watched him nearly topple backwards in his chair. In her drunken state she reached a hand out in case, but laughed when he did between a couple hiccups. “Veryyy sound advice, Sidneyy,” she didn’t know why she liked saying his name so much, but it was just something that felt nice on the tongue. “I don’nt plannn on ruinin’ anythinng with Wisax. Evenn with thoose intense feelin’s we had… I’ve nev’r felt so looow about myself because I wasn’ enuffff to be one.. Could’t eat. Could’t sleep. Could’t be soberr.” I mean, it’s obvious this woman is gorgeous and she’s found a nice balance of confidence without arrogance or conceit, but it may be hard to imagine her in such a place. She takes a deep breath and fans her face as the tears rimmed her eyelids again, “I’m sorryy… It ‘as been a heavyyy week, but - à travers l'obscurité je brille.” She said in her Veretian tongue which rolled beautifully off her tongue and it’s obvious that the language alone from where she is from is alluring. A few blinks clear up the threat of tears easily and she sets those liberty blues on Sidd, “some’ne hurt yeww like this beforr?” An expression on her face as if she was hoping he wouldn’t leave her to embarrass herself here.
Sidd offers the Avian a genuine smile, tossing a shoulder as he's tried his best to comfort. "Ah, well. You're great, chiquita. His loss, really. You just do you and rock out while doing so. Screw'im, amirite?" He tosses down the remainder of his beer, flagging a nearby waiter for another as he wondered if he should tell his tale. After a moment he decided it would be a proper response, as she just spilled her guts to him. "Well yeah." he began. "Couple of times, actually. First one was bad, but the last relationship- Man that was the worst." Sidd's blue gaze fell to the table before them and he became lost in reminiscence of a time not too long ago in history. "It was just after I woke up in a strange new place. I stumbled out toward a roadside, and there was this angelic looking woman. A real babe. Vibrant cerulean eyes, and the most golden locks of hair you could imagine." Just thinking about this woman had the guy smiling- it was obvious there was a real attachment there. "Anyway. She didn't like me at first. I straight up hit on her right away, like an ass, and she wanted to rip my throat out. Though, I guess something interested her, because over time we got to know one another pretty well. It turns out she was like, the creation or a daughter of some sort of dark power. She said he was a God, but I'm not sure how true that was. Given the way these worlds work, you never know, right?" Sidd chuckles, thanking the waiter for his drink, payment with tip handed over. With fingers wrapped around the bottle, he looked up and continued his story. "Anyway, despite her psychotic evil nature, I started to fall for her. So damn hard. She was like no one I'd ever known. I would have killed for her, it was that intense. I mean, she even had a kid. A little hellish bastard. He hated me at first. Tried to kill me multiple times. You know things are bad when a damn child almost murders ya." A gentle laugh escaped was he recalled that nearly fatal day. "Anyway, we got to a point where after months of work, we were like beginning to be this happy family. It was great. I was this nobody jackass, and I had this wonderfully psychotic and powerhouse babe on my arm, life was starting to pick up. But then..." Sidd stopped, brow knitting as the bad parts of the memory began to fall upon him.
Brennia had reached a smooth caramel colored hand and in her bold fashion caressed his sharp featured cheek before using that same hand to down more of her drink, “I don’t think I could ssaay this enough, Sidd… You’re sweeet.” It was only because he said those nice things about her, really. His words and story stole her attention entirely while she had turned herself towards him and possibly by drunken accident her leg was rested on the side of his from her own still being crossed. Her expressions shifted as he spoke from a coy smile to worry and happiness, but he stopped leaving her on a cliffhanger and she faked an angry expression, “but thennn?” This guy has her hanging on every word!
Sidd had slipped off into idle thought, the touch to his cheek barely registered. It was when she spoke again, the leg bumping his that he snapped out of his lull and continued. "Sorry. Uh, then. Right. Anyway, I crossed paths with my first ever Drow. Dude was hanging out, starting me down real hard. I didn't even doing anything. I was just relaxin',waiting for my lady friend to show up, and he started in on me. We scrapped, but the dude was a hell of a lot more skilled than I was and wound up banishing me to 'The Void'. A crazy ass place of darkness and strange creatures. It was insane. I hardly ever slept, and somehow, I never really needed to eat. It was weird. I think, at least, it felt like I hadn't been in there too long. Maybe a month or so. But when i got out, apparently it had been a couple years. First thing I did was to go find blondie, and that's kinda when things went south. She hated me. Real bad. Said that I completely abandoned her. It took some time, but I finally convinced her that I was telling the truth about that Drow dude. Especially when I was able to show her a little trick I picked up in there." Sidd shrugged. "Then things got worse. She tried her damnedest to corrupt me. To turn me to that dark side. I went with it at first. She would never leave me alone, either. Got real stalkerish. Always had to know where I was gonna be. Part of her still thought I intentionally ran off. Hell, I couldn't even talk to another woman without her going completely psychotic. I watched her transform into this... thing... once. Ripped this other chick to pieces. It was gnarly." Once more he lost focus of the reality around him, staring off into nothingness as he took a drink of his beer. "So. After awhile, I decided it might be a good idea to end it. Her dark side came out and it was scary. Even her kiddo had it out for me whenever she was even the slightest upset. I spent months in hiding after breaking it off. She wanted me dead. Eventually after some time had passed, we met again. There was a hatred there, but at the same time... I still cared, you know? She did too. She was hurt. But man, I was just not cut out for that crap. I'm not a bad guy. Still, I missed her. We tried a few times on and off to make it work, but it just never ever did, you know? That's when I decided to hit the road. Travel a bit. Long story short- Lots of drinkin'. A boat. And now, here I am. I still miss the chick. Real hard. But i'm thankful that I wound up here... I'm sure the back and forth would have ended up with me buried six feet under."
Brennia found herself frowning in his tale and dammit that was way deeper than her own, but maybe if she hadn’t been here drinking all day on her only day off she could have eloquently told her story. One of her hands on her own decolletage as if she was afraid her heart actually broke from his story. “You knoww.. I get the feelinn that Daermon - I uhmean my ex.” She is usually very careful to not name names, but dammit there is only so much hurt and boose a woman can endure. She chuckles darkly with a mischievous smirk, “he claaaims he achesss and misses me like you do for her. Ev’n appearsss too entiiirely broken up, buutt you ever jussst know a guy too well?” A shrug, “I’m sure he’d easse right in the next cute birddy that showss int-er-est.” A subtle shaking of her head, “that was the reasson forr open re-lation-ship in tha firssst place. That waaay I don’t get hurt, but I was cow’rdly. ‘ventually I got a little too clossse to the sunn and thought I was the ex-cep-tion to the rule.” More shaking over her head after an eye roll, “buutt not…” She hadn't realized her hand had reached out to rest on his knee in a comforting motion, “I am glad you aren’t six feet under, Sidney…” Her wing next to him seems to do a weird stretch near him before folding back to herself and she was back to finishing off her drink. “You seem to be just a humann, but yew ‘ave jusst the understanding I needed t’night. Thank you.” She raises her glass to him.
Sidd laughs in gentle fashion as he agrees to her observations. "That's typically how it goes, innit? I mean, the whole open thing is pretty damn, rad. I get the idea, and I'd probably be one of those types of give it a go, but man, stuff like that typically never ends well. Sorry to see that you were a byproduct of that sort of thing. Dude was nuts not to clamp down from the beginning." His bottle lifts in order to take a drink, only stopping when her hand inadvertently touched his leg. He would glance down, but did not bother to ask for it's removal. She was obviously sympathizing. "Ah hah, yeah me too, Brennia. Else I wouldn't have met a cool kid like yourself." A jesting wink, before he clinks his bottle against her raised glass. "No problem, dudette. I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but I like to think life's given me a bit of insight, yeah?"
Brennia eventually removed her hand, shut up, it’s just a hand, but she did notice the look, “do you not like or enjoy touch?” She giggles again st this other words, teasing, complementing and joking causing her to maaaaybe blush, “a kid? I could be like your great grandmother probably.” She sticks out her tongue with a playful nudge from one of those velvety wings. When the one opened to do so it might be easy to catch one blonde colored feather spotting the onyx ones, but unless he, like, constantly checked her out before he might not understand it’s new. “That it has,” her smirk spread to a coy smile and she realized through being enthralled through his story she neglected her drink which gave her blood enough time to lessen the alcohol in the stream.
Sidd laughs out loud and shakes his head, returning a nudge of his own. "Nah, it's cool. Most around here seem to like to keep their distance for the most part, so it's just a bit different." He finally takes a drink of his beer, blue gaze taking an adventure over the Avian's features. he did spot the lightly colored feather, but did not realize it was something new. Truthfully, although he had observed the woman a few times in their past couple of meetings, he did not known enough to think anything of it. "So, should I like, call you granny now?" he asked with a big old smug grin plastered across his face. Noting the sobering and more playful nature of the woman, he asks, "So, you feelin' better now? Less bummed out?"
Brennia takes herself and her drink and sits herself on his lap, seems she likes to push buttons, “Not I. Call me whatever you want to call me, Sidney.” She chuckles and he would be granted that wonderful favorite smell of his. “That I am, mostly, thank you,” she was smirking down at him before planting a kiss on his forehead and slipping from his lap because she was probably kinda heavy for the wee little human. Her free hand took his, “let's dance though. I am sure I’ll feel lots better after that.” She likes his company more than she’d like to admit, maybe he makes her feel like a hundred years younger, but she didn’t analyze this or overthink it because it’s just fun.
Sidd narrowed his gaze at the Avian when she initiated her brazen move, brow pushed up toward the ceiling as he asked, "Do I look like a chair?" The hint of laughter in his voice would completely tell her that he was not serious, but still. "Oh good. I shall dub thee, Le Buttmunch Mcgee, then!" he taunted, soon adding, "I'm glad, then.Ya look better when you're smiling." The scent of cookies caused him to take a deep breath, the kiss upon his forehead met with another chuckle. However, as soon as the word 'dance' was thrown into the mix, he looked flabbergasted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Dance? Me?" Steel met liberty and he softened to the request, a fake pout expressed for good measure. "Gahd dammit. Fine! But I'm warnin' yah. I come with a side of embarrassment in that department."
Brennia glanced around the nearly abandoned tavern save for a local bard pounding away on a drum. She laughed a bit harder because of him and actually held her side before playfully shoving him, “fine by, Le Buttmunch McGee.” Unsure how, but that Venetian accent even made that sound adorable. “Do your worst!” And they danced and they cried and they laughed and had a really really really good time. (OOC | Yes that's a Macklemore song >.>)