Caught in the Crowd

[Kaiden Dellario]

It was starting to become a habit, visiting some of the city taverns in the evenings. Despite his near zero tolerance for alcohol, Kaiden enjoyed the company of all sorts of people and taverns were a great place to watch and talk to those people. Occasionally, he visited some of the more military locals with some comrades. Even more rarely he visited some of the upper class establishments among other nobility. Being the easy-going sort he was, he could almost always find someone to talk to and enjoy himself with, but it could be a bit more difficult in those places. Tresterian nobles at such places were a bit too stiff, especially at finding out he was a Duke. And military men could become a bit heavy on the nationalism at learning he was a foreigner. Most people though, the commoners and middle class and those at the more general bars, didn't care about any of those things. It made it much easier to relax and be himself.

After a long day of training on Militaire island, he'd extracted himself from the crowd (and managed not to get threatened on the way out) and let his horse take him where she wanted to go. Which was down the main road he normally took, through the docks where he stopped to buy some fried fish on a stick and talk to the woman there, and then onto the main street. His dark mare seemed much more content to focus on the ride home while Kaiden enjoyed the flow of people along the street and the still somewhat strange but nice architecture. He was headed to one of his usual places, not really paying attention.

He'd made it all the way inside before he heard it. There had been local musicians and singers many times at other places he went, but it was rarer for this place. Kaiden paused for a moment, caught up simply listening to the singer in appreciation. She was good. And seemed rather at home on the...well, there wasn't a stage exactly, but they had cleared a nice space for her. As such, the place was packed, with only a few spaces at the bar. He squeezed into one of the stools and paid for a drink that he wouldn't touch, but he wasn't about to take up space without paying for something. The man was content to keep to himself for once and just enjoy the entertainment. 

Roisin O'Sullivan

[Roisin O'Sullivan]

"The angel will observe my exquisite corpse from up above. He paints me gold and silver, far much more than I deserve." Normally the tavern would be bustling with laughter and talking on a night like this but for the moment most people crowded around the little area Roisin was sat in. Her fingers strummed easily at the lute to the rhythm of her song. Though there was was a few conversations here and there her honey sweet voice rung out clear through the building. "My body's scarred. My mind is weathered. Yet he adores it all. I am afraid, I am afraid I'll make the angel fall." Her eyes were closed as if in a trance as she sang.

"He knows it's a dangerous game he plays with his soul. He knows it's a dangerous game and that my morality is shakey at best." The song picked up tempo as she moved to the next verse. There was a collective wave of chills until Roisin finished and opened her eyes. There was a chorus on cheers and claps as Roisin took a bow and set the lute down. "Thank you so much, but I really need a break now." She'd been singing for twenty minutes and her throat was starting to become sore. The redhead moved to through the crowd as it dispersed a bit and moved to the bar.

"Lovely as ever, Willow," the bartender complimented as he slid her a water. "Thanks," she said a bit shyly. Even if she'd been doing this for a while she still felt strange being complimented on it. Her eyes turned to Kaiden who she hadn't seen often in the tavern. "Good evening," she said politely with a small smile.

[Kaiden Dellario]

Admittedly, Kaiden didn't understand most of the song. Singing was both more and less helpful for him in learning a language and while he considered himself more or less fluent in Tresterian, there were still words or colloquial phrases here and there that he had to puzzle out. Songs were so much more poetic that normal speech, so often it took him longer still to derive a meaning. But the words...the words he could piece together. He'd leave the analysis for after the woman was finished anyway, wanting to enjoy the moment.

The mood in the tavern was certainly...quiet. Not quite depressed, but her song wasn't the distractingly rowdy or joyful sort most came to dance to. It was such an odd setting for the piece. And likely why the mood felt tense underneath the mystified gazes of the onlookers. Chills indeed. The cheers made Kaiden jump, as it wasn't the reaction he expected for that sort of piece. But...maybe that was his lack of understanding. And it was a tavern, so the response fit the crowd. He smiled and clapped softly along with the rest.

He distractedly thanked the bartender for his drink, even if he had no intention of drinking it. He noticed the woman move to the bar through the crowd, her vibrant red hair hard to miss, hearing the bartender compliment her and seeing her blush. Her eyes met his and he smiled slightly, not exactly embarrassed but feeling a bit caught. "Evening. Quite the interesting song choice," he noted, wanting to compliment her as well but having heard how that went over, he moved passed that. Besides, she was singing to make money, clearly she knew she could sing and didn't need the likes of some stranger to validate her. "You sing here often?"