Ymiden 1st 718
Four score and seven ticks ago, there were things going on. Now it was dead. IT WAS ALL DEAD. The times were slow and boring[/b] and hideous. There ain’t a damn loon worth talking to abouts here! To top it off, these Videnese barkeeps were stingy. “Aint had enough!” he’d growl, and then the barkeep’d growl right on back. “You have. Pay your tab and come back tomorrow, sir.”Wimpy fucks.
“Erm, sir,” a mouse mused to his ear from across the room. Kohan didn’t hear, casting his gaze to the side, wondering if he could see double yet from the booze. “Sir!” the voice rasped, louder this time.
Kohan’s head twisted in the right direction, his hair bouncing off his shoulders. “WAT?” he bellowed with a smirk and a crazed look from the whites of his eyes being so naked. The skinny tall man flinched. “What ya gonna say? Say it. Say it ta me, I won’t bite ya I promise ya that!” he laughed, waving with a hand. “A little closer. Take a seat, take a seat!”
The drunken Lothar churred as he stared down at his empty glass. The barkeep must’a left it there to taunt him, but he didn’t mind. He just played with it, sliding it from hand to hand until that spry fellow took a seat next to him.
“I’m a recruiter,” the man began calmly.
“Yeah, what ya recruiting for?” Kohan looked him up and down, noting the dark blue uniform that was well decorated.
“You don’t recognize the uniform. You’re not from around these parts?”
“Well yeah, I got here on a ship a night and a half or some ago and there’s nothing to do in this place. It sucks.” Kohan tapped his glass with impatience, but ended up wiping his face with a sweaty palm, trying to remain coherent.
“Well, I’m here to extend an invitation to you. We’re always looking for ...sometimes looking for ...interesting foreigners. We have a few programs available at the Academy, if you’d like to hear about them.” The spry guy smiled as he finished those quiet, honeyed words.
Kohan flat-out rejected him. “Nope.”
“Sir, you haven’t heard about-”
“Nah, I am not no bookish scholar.”
The Eidisi’s brow crossed. “You just said that you are. You denied that you would deny that you are.”
The Lothar snorted, holding in a laugh as he chuckled through his nose. The pressure was so great that he couldn’t hold it in, and he started roaring with laughter, reaching out and patting the fragile thing on the back. “Oh ya got me there. Hah! Ya got me. Ya got me. Oh my. Ya really got me.”
Jabbed on the back, the Eidisi let out a cute little “oof” and shut his eyes, placing his palms on the counter and opening them again once he was centered enough to talk. “So you’ll at least look into it then.”
“Maybe ayell do it. Maybe. Or I’ll look at it. Dunno yet.”
“Maybe the navy would be more suited for you,” he reasoned. “Have you--well, you certainly came here on a ship, haven’t you?”
“Aye, that’s true! HOW’D YA KNOW. YA GOT MAGIC POWERS!?” Kohan said, his voice loud and exuberant. He was so intimidating, a mountain of a man that lived on the tips of his toes, and his unmentionables.
“No, I do not as of yet possess Yvithia’s blessing.”
“An who the heck is that?”
“...” The Eidisi looked offended. “You’ve come to Viden, and you know nothing of Yvithia?”
Kohan nodded, and went to take a drink. Except, his mug was empty. He stared at the bottom, briefly distracted. Fill up, damn you. He looked to the blue man, not really caring who this person was. He could tell this ‘Recruiter’ didn’t like that he didn’t know. “I don’t know everything. I don’t know a lot. I aint one a the gods.”
The Eidisi sighed deeply, calming himself. “Yvithia--pay attention.” He made sure Kohan was looking at him. Now he was. “She’s the Immortal of-”
“Oh, an IMMORTAL, yeah, I met one before, too!”
“...Immortal of-”
“Eidisi. YEAH.”
“...Immortal of--”
Kohan smiled, and the Eidisi gave him a look of concern, shaking hish ead. “Lothar got yer tongue buddy?” He’s so scrawny, I could snap him like a twig over my knee!
“..Forget it.” He slipped away from the stool. “Try the Mariners if you need work. You would be better suited to that life than the Academy.”
“I’ll give them a try. THANKS. Hah!” His excitement evaporated in an instant when he realized the young Eidisi was leaving. “HEY! Where YA GOIN?” he barked as the Eidisi dressed in furs for the cold weathers out there.
Kohan hopped off the stool, but the bartender shot him a “sir!” to make sure he didn’t forget to pay. He reached into his pocket and tossed a Nel onto the counter before hopping off to meet the Eidisi. “Where are these Mariner people? Do they kill monsters? Yeah?” He squeezed his fists. “Gods, I’d love to get my fists around a giant beast again!”
The Eidisi recoiled, backing up against the door. “The main office is out on the docks!” he squeaked. “The Academy is in Viden!”
“Wha? I’m nah in Viden!?”
The Eidisi nodded, really trying to duck out now. “Y-yeah, you’re in the Bay of Synnefa. Viden’s half a Trial to the north. So the Mer can’t--”
“Mer? Those sound like monsters!”
“Yeah, they attack sometimes. It’s why Viden’s invested so much into the Mariner’s. It’s the Mariner’s job to fight the Mer back when they rise from the sea. They’re fish people. And nasty. I wouldn’t want to run into them!”
“OUTTA MY WAY!” the Lotharro howled, harshly pushing the Eidisi off the door and rushing through into the open air with nothing but a cotton shirt and some smocks. He went right out to the docks as the snow beat down on him, and looked down at the ice below. “YA TELLIN’ ME THE MER LIVE IN THAT!?”
No response. The Eidisi left, happy to be rid of the Lothar.
“WHY WOULD ANYONE...”
With a snarl, he turned around and ran back inside, grabbing his sword from the wall. “THANKS FOR THE ALE!” he spouted at the man running the joint before rushing out, pleased that the doors were so taller here than anywhere else in the world. The Eidisi were rather tall fellows, after all.
Without much thought to it, Kohan ran up to the docks, all the way to the end. Hefting his huge sword, he pointed it at the ocean. Then, with a powerful voice that was sure to draw concern, he screamed at the top of his lungs. “MER!” A breath. Panicked sailors ran to sound the alarm. “I’LL BE THE END OF YOU. YOU’LL NEVER SET FIN ON THIS BAY WHILE I YET DRAW BREATH, FISH-BREATHED BASTARDS!”
Ding. A bell went off. Ding, ding, ding. More frantically as time went on, and more alarms began to sound from different corners of the port.
As if hoping something would happen, Kohan stared out across the frozen bay, his arm getting tired from holding nearly seven feet of metal out over the edge. He waited and waited for the Mer to rise from the sea to meet his insult, but nothing happened. After awhile, he shrugged, and let his massive blade fall against the docks.
“Mer!” screamed a sailor, and other sailors. “Get yer swords!”
“Yeah!” Kohan smirked, picking his sword up. He turned around. “I got mine! Where the Mer at!?” The sailor kept running, and the tall Lothar bounded after him, keeping up easily with his long stride and boundless Lotharren endurance. “They over this way!?”
“No! I’m RUNNING. I don’t wanna fight those scaly bastards, I’m just a deck hand!”
Kohan skidded to a halt! “Agh! Fuck!” He turned and began running back where he came from. There were people standing around. “Where the hell are the MER!?”
“They musta snagged a fishing boat!” one sailor theorized.
“No, no, I heard the yell from the docks. Guy had a pair of lungs on him!” The sailor noticed Kohan standing there. “Fucking hell! Was that you?”
“There aint any MER here?” Kohan responded. “Where are they? I’m gonna smash em with my sword!” he cried desperately, voice slurred with the effects of alcohol. He reeked of it.
“We’ve got our culprit,” the other sailor nodded. He sighed. “You calm the drunk giant down, I’ll go spread the word that it was a false alarm.”
“Drunk GIANT? Where? Where’s the MER!?” Kohan raised his sword, prompting panic from the lone man left to deal with him.
“Hey, easy there!” the human male with a mop of brown hair protested, raising his hands in defense, snow frosting his beard. The wind kicked up with a flurry, drowning out his words. “The Mer are gone!” he yelled above the wind.
“WHAT’D YOU SAY?”
“The MER ARE GOOOOONE!”
