Colin's posts

Adym looked when she said what she did, and narrowed his eyes a little.

"...I did..." he said. "Barely." he added.

He then noticed that there seemed to be people following her... asking her questions, or begging for attention, or kissing up to her. He had to admit, he didn't like it. It made him uneasy.

He also noticed that there seemed to be someone off to the side staring at her. Hard. Almost like he was judging or scrutinising her.

"Wonder what that's all about..." he mumbled.

"...seems like she's some kind of well-known person, though..."

Adym smiled in response.

"It's a good attitude to have." he said. "Appreciate the finer things in life, but never forget that it doesn't have to be fine for you to appreciate it." he summarised, as they approached the docking area.

And they saw a massive ship there, waiting.

"Looks like this is our vessel." he commented.

"Remember to hang onto your ticket." he reminded her.

"You may need it during the trip." he continued. "But just keep it in the cabin we'll be staying in."

Adym just shook his head.

"It's fine." he said, taking a small bit and eating it. After he did, she saw him wince a little, before he paused and seemed to be thinking about it, and then swallowed the small bite.

"Interesting." he mumbled.

"I think it'd be an acquired taste." he commented. "But I also think I can see why people like it." he went on.

"And now that I've had it, I might be able to cultivate it." he reasoned.

"Might take some time, but I think I just might." he continued.

"Regardless, yeah, you do seem to have rich tastes." he laughed.

v"...." again, Adym was silent for a moment, before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I mean... I... well..." he stammered, clearly tripping over his words.

He then sighed, thinking about how to word this, before snapping his fingers.

"Ah!" he exclaimed.

"What you're eating is... well, from the other world, it would be the equivalent to caviar." he told her. "Generally speaking, nobility and royalty tend to enjoy it." he told her further.

"And... well, yeah." he finished, unsure as to what more to say from here.

Adym was silent and bit his lip slightly.

"Uh... well..." he stammered.

"I'm not... uh... I'm not 'high society' enough to have developed a taste for them." he told her.

"But... I mean, if you're offering, I guess I can try it." he reasoned. "And if I did, I might be able to get a sense of how they grow, and I might be able to reproduce them. Or... well, just get them to grow, really." he mumbled.

He then wondered if he'd said too much about the people that enjoyed that fruit.

What would her reaction be...?

"....huh." Adym mumbled.

"Fair... fair, enough." he said.

"Is something wrong?" Callie then asked him.

"Oh! No, no." the elf replied. "It's just that those are kind of rare, and are a bit of an acquired taste, one can say." he told her. "The fact that the inn had some must mean a shipment came in from a bounty that was found." he reasoned.

"So it's lucky that they were here." he continued.

"...I've never actually tried growing them, myself..." he then admitted, looking more closely at what was left of it in her hand.

After about 10 more minutes, Adym emerged from the washroom once more, dried and clothed.

"All right, I'm ready to go." he told her.

"We need to drop the key off at the front desk, and... well... if we want to, see if we can grab anything to go if we want, like fruit or something, but we should head right to the ship." he reasoned.

He then made his way to his cloak and pack, and put both of them on, before looking at Callie.

"I'm good to go." he said.

"Are you?"

The red in his face grew a little deeper at that point, and he cleared his throat loudly.

"N-no, no! It's fine!" he told her.

"I'm n-neither of those things!" he exclaimed, before turning around quickly.

"I should finish drying off and getting dressed!" he quickly declared, heading back into the washroom and shutting the door behind him.

Callie could tell that he was flattered, yes, but also extremely flustered. Odds were good that he wasn't used to getting compliments from females. Or from ones he really and truly knew or cared about.

Adym froze when he heard her compliment, and she could see his face turn a slightly more reddish tone. He was silent for a couple of seconds, before clearing his throat a little, and looking at her.

"I... ah... I see?" he responded.

"Uh... thank you? I think?" he said further, thinking about it.

"Well, I AM an elf. We're not really known for our masculinity." he then admitted with a sigh. "But I can assure you that I AM a man." he told her further, looking down at his chest.

"...as you can see." he mumbled.

"Thank you for the compliment." he said again, his face still slightly red.

Adym just smirked.

"Fair." he said.

"I'll get cleaned up myself, then." he told her.

With that, he made his way into the room, and she heard the water being poured and such... and after about 20 minutes, he stepped out of the room, clad in only his pants, drying his hair.

And she could see that he did have the slender, almost petit, build of an elf... but there was definite muscle definition to him. It was clear he was not the sort to just lay about and do nothing. He got exercise, he worked.

Adym looked at her sleepily, before his eyes popped open and he nodded.

"Right." he said, getting out of bed. "We should head out post-haste." he agreed.

"Hmmm..." he mumbled. "They'll have food on the ship, so we won't need to worry about breakfast here..." he reasoned. "Do you want to clean up before we leave?" he asked.

While it wasn't fully functional indoor plumbing, the washroom there had a tub in it, as well as a good-sized basin where you could heat the water and dump into the tub, as well as a plug that would drain the water down a pipe and out the back of the building. It was cumbersome, but it was certainly better than a lot of people had, and it was surprisingly quick to do.

"Or do you think you'd rather do that on the ship?" he asked further.

"Either's fine with me." he added, stretching out his arms and opening the window... only for there to barely be any light at all.

"...right, it's even a bit early for ME to be up..." he realised with a small laugh.

Adym just shrugged.

"Fluid." he told her. "We have so many different races and species in this world, that it's hard to find a happy middle ground that pleases everyone." he said. "And it's unreasonable to expect the people that work in the food service industry to know it ALL." he reasoned.

"So they just generally go with the rule of 'if you look like you're 15 or older, you're clear'." he said. "It's not the best, but it stops children from consuming alcohol." he went on. "Yes, some slip through because they look older than they are, but really? It's the best we can do." he told her further. "Seeing as this is a port city, I have a feeling dozens of different clientele rotate through these doors, so... the rules are a little more lax than in the other world." he went on.

"And unless you look definitively like an adult, they'll cut you off after 2 or 3 drinks." he added.

"So no worries on whether or not we just skirted the law." he chuckled.

"We should probably decide what we want to eat before he gets back with the drinks, though." he then suggested, looking at what they had to offer.

"That would be wonderful." Adym responded. "Absolutely wonderful." he repeated, a bit of a sad tone to his voice.

The two of them then exited the room and made their way down to the attached tavern, and found it to be a rather classy place as well, as expected. It wasn't a pub or a dive or anything, it looked really nice and welcoming. Something Callie hadn't experienced in a while, and was thankful to see once more.

They were escorted to a table by a male server, and when seated, he asked if there was anything they'd like to drink.

"Any recommendations?" Adym asked.

"Well, the in-house ale is smooth and has a rather sweet touch to it." the man responded. "It's a local favourite." he said further. "We also have various other draughts and a fine selection of sparkling wines as well." he added, gesturing to the part of the menu that listed the drinks.

"I'll try the house ale, then." Adym responded.

"Very good." the man responded. "And for you, miss?" he asked Callie.

Adym paused for a moment, thinking about it.

"I... I'm not sure." he admitted. "I've never actually BEEN on the trip to the other continent." he told her. "Or if I have, I don't remember it." he continued. "But I think it would easily take 5 days, perhaps even a week." he then assumed. "Which means, yes, food will be provided on the ship." he assured her, looking at their tickets again.

"Yeah, it says 'accommodations and meals'." he confirmed.

"But all right. Food, it is." he said, grabbing their room key again. "Let's go." he told her. "Afterwards, as you said, we'll look about and see if we can't find anything we may need in the future." he agreed.

"We probably shouldn't be out and about when it gets dark, also." he said. "I know this is a busy and populous city, and it's one of the better ones for keeping order, but ever since Vyran started his rise to power, being out at night ANYWHERE is... well, it's never been a good idea." he lamented.

"I want to bring that back to this world." he told her. "I want people to feel safe being outside at night, even if just in the cities. The fact that nowhere is safe in the dark is... depressing and horrifying."