InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm bringing pastry back"

ɴᴇʀɪᴀ ꜱᴜʀᴀɴᴀ (halamshivanas) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-01-29 21:28:00

Entry tags:

gwaine, neria surana

Who: Neria and Gwaine.
What: A mage walks into a bar...
Where: The bar where Gawain works.
When: Evening.
Rating: TBD.
Status: In progress.

It was not often that Neria visited pubs. Much of her life, from the time she was young until the last few months, had been spent confined to the Tower of the Circle of Magi. And once she had left the tower, her concern had been the Blight. The only taverns she had seen fit to visit were the ones that were necessary to her duty as a Warden, such as the tavern in Redcliff or the one in Denerim. She was serious about her obligation to the Grey Wardens and to Ferelden, and she had never seem time for pointless revelry. Her serious disposition was something Zevran had often teased her about, but she knew that she could rest once the Blight was ended and Alistair made king.

But now, she was in a strange city, filled with dangers the likes of which she had never before encountered. It was certainly enough to make a woman crave a brief respite from the chaos, particularly when there was little she could do. She had gone out for a walk and stumbled upon the pub without really intending to end up there, but it seemed as good a place as any to collect her thoughts. A few people stared at her ears as she entered, but she had become used to the fact that people in this city were unaccustomed to the presence of elves. Sitting down at the bar, she looked at the bartender and realised he was very familiar. "Hello," she said in greeting, giving Gwaine a small smile. "I was not expecting to run into you here."

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likestheodds
2011-01-30 09:40 am UTC (link)

With the city in ruins Gwaine found it surprisingly easy to find a job. Before the invasion of those floating death orbs he'd not had the time to search for one. Now he was mostly what he'd been told was a 'bouncer' of sorts at a tavern - or as the locals called it, a bar. If patrons got rough, he got rougher. But he'd quickly learned that the way to make the most money, aside from Colligo's wonderful gambling hall, was behind the bar, not protecting the bar.

He'd implored of his new employer about the possibility of moving in that direction with his 'career', and because man power was short, and the city inhabitants, like those of thousands of cities throughout the ages, were still nursing their sorrows over the last month with liquor, he agreed to let Gwaine start picking up extra shifts to learn how to bar-tend. He was still expected to bounce out the roughs, and those shifts he tended bar he was only paid half the standard, of course, while he was still learning.

The skill was easy to pick up, despite only knowing about five different kinds of alcohol when he'd first shown up in this new time. And tonight, while he still had a trainer on shift with him, he was mostly left to his own, to see how he fared.

He grinned his trade mark smile when Neria sat down at the bar, and set the glass he'd been drying down on the counter. "And I'd not figured you for the sort to come in here."

Gwaine liked her ears, or at least that's what he liked first, and for a very peculiar reason. When Gwaine had first arrived in the city he had mistrusted Morgana completely. His memories of her painted the woman in an unfavorable light, and while he felt differently about the woman now that she'd proven she was not the woman he knew, at first his opinions were rather strong against her. To see someone who resembled her very much was a shock. And for that reason, the one obvious difference between the two being their ears, Gwaine had instantly liked them.

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halamshivanas
2011-02-03 07:39 am UTC (link)

"You figured correctly," Neria assured him with a comfortable smile. "But it seemed like as good a place as any to get lost in a crowd...as much as I ever can." Socialising outside the Tower had been a difficult thing at first, and she knew she had come off as somewhat abrasive in her days at Ostagar, but she was getting better at it. She wondered if perhaps, once the Blight was done and Alistair made king, she should suggest that the mages be less sequestered at the very least. It limited their effectiveness, as well as their usefulness to the kingdom and the crown, if they were never integrated into society. Being locked in a Tower only led to the sort of dangerous resentment they had seen in Uldred.

But she was getting lost in her own thoughts. She gave him a small smile and reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I never really got to see much of the world during my training," she explained. "Mages are confined to the Tower, where we live and practice our talents. Very few ever leave. I suppose I have been doing my best to see the world from which I was kept away for so long." She gave a little shrug. "Particularly in this place, with all its modern wonders. There is so much to see and so many things to learn...I hardly know where to begin. But then you must understand that, coming as you do from a time and place as different from this as my own."

She looked around. "I confess," she told him, "that I have no idea what to order. Perhaps you could make a suggestion, if it is not too much trouble?"

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