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Nine Roads Alani It's just moving from late afternoon into the beginnings of sunset here in Great Forks. The sky is turning red-gold in anticipation, the colors curling around the occasional cloud, darkened on the near side, far overhead. The Meisong Bridge, one of a number of them arching gracefully over one of the streams leading to the Yellow River, is bathed in the light, its gorgeous stone-and-wood design a paean to one of the local river gods, quite possibly some ways below.

There's some foot traffic here still, of course--here in the Temple District, the city never truly sleeps. It's not a festival evening, however, which at least gives one room to breathe, and there seems to be a figure standing on the crest of the bridge, arms on the railings, staring out over the water who's trying to do just that.

A traveler, clearly, with her dusty beige robes with black trim and long, ragged grey cloak. She sighs in contentment, watching the sun begin to set. On the wide railing of the bridge in front of her rests a neatly wrapped package from one of the local bakeries, a heavenly smell drifting there from.

Holegn The clack-flop, click-flip, noise of wooden sandals can be heard before the person is seen. But from the shadows before the bridge walks a form, black shirt, saffron pantaloons and leather skirt. Her hair is almost burning red when it catches the red-gold of the pre-sunset.

The young woman keeps to the right-hand side, hands in her pockets, as she too admires the sunset. "Yeah, always nice to see that crossing one of the bridges here.", she comments to no one in particular. Her eyes linger on the neatly wrapped package, a faint rumble heard in her stomach, perhaps unnoticed with the sound of her sandals so close by. "Moonrise is almost as beautiful, just lacks the golden glow of the Sun."

Nine Roads Alani While there's certainly more than one person all across the expanse of the bridge, the heavy clacking does attract the traveler's attention, at least a little bit. The figure brushes the cloak's hood back to reveal a heavy fall of blonde hair, framing a face with a far away, fond little smile on it. The smile turns to a friendly grin as she turns to look at Holegn, then pats the railing of the bridge next to her in a friendly way.

"I dunno about the moonrise, but the light on that hair of yours more than makes up for it, I'd say. That, and I have a couple extra dumplings you're welcome to if you like."

The blonde girl looks briefly out over the water again. "You can call me Elena."

Holegn Holegn pauses as the railing is patted, a look of suspicion briefly seen on the woman's face. But after a few moments thought, the young woman steps out of her sandals and with a quiet grunt, hops onto the railing and perches there.

Her cheeks colour faintly at the compliment about her hair, but she stiffens slightly at the offer of dumplings. It's surely a no that's about to pass her lips, but then her stomach gurgles insistently, and her expression becomes defeat.

The red-head grins and bobs her head, "I am Holly. Pleased to meet you, Elena. I..." Pride is stubborn sometimes. "I wouldn... I have not yet had a chance to try things from that bakery, though I walk past it most every day. Thank you, I would be pleased to try one."

Nine Roads Alani With a graceful bend backwards, Elena turns towards Holegn then lifts herself up onto the railing with a backwards handstand, then levers herself down into a cross-legged sit on the railing. Not quite as death-defying, perhaps, but it's at least one limber way to set oneself down in front of the meat buns!

"Well! Nice to meetcha, Holly. C'mon, sit. I don't bite. And I don't poison my own meat buns." She chuckles. "And to prove it, pick whichever one you want. I have plenty--too much, really. You're not putting me out."

At that, 'Elena' spends a few moments studying Holly's face as she eats, her movements quick and sure.

"Hum. Sorry I didn't bring any tea. Didn't think about it."

Holegn After brief consideration, the red-head settles into a similar cross-legged position. "Nice handstand, you have obviously worked out and trained hard. I'll just never fit in, everyone's out to make me look like a clutz."

Holegn laughs, and selects one of the meat buns, eating it daintily and politely. "No, if someone's going to do that, they'll poison all the buns, because they're using a toxin they've gotten used to, and can stomach the potential pain and bad effects for a time." She laughs again and winks. "My grandmother was full of old stories of the past, some of my family members led quite the lifestyle, it seems. That, or granny was telling tall tales all the time. Probably more the latter than the former."

Holly waves a hand dismissively. "Beggars cannot be choosers, I will certainly not complain about having no tea. Though... you are right, it is the perfect thing to add to the moment."

Nine Roads Alani 'Elena' chuckles again after polishing off her first dumpling. "Oh, I don't know if I'd say that. Don't get me wrong, Holly--I'm good--but you know how it takes one to know one? You seemed sharp enough there yourself, girl. Just as well I practice balance and not poisoning meat buns, though. Guarantee all you'd see of me is a grave." She grins. "I'm good because I just about barked my shins and slammed my funny bones into every hard object within a thousand meters of the dojo. S'what I get for running everywhere too fast." She gets a wicked smile for a moment. "Now, I'm just as fast but I get paid for it! Always nice if you can swing it. As for your family...that sounds like a lot of fun stories. After the fact!"

The blonde takes a bite of her second meat bun. "You'll have to tell me one sometime."

Holegn "Well, I try not to break my arm patting myself on the back, and I'm not ashamed to say that you were the more graceful of the two of us, as far as hopping onto the railing goes. I wouldn't actually know anything about poisoning people. Indeed, fun stories after the fact. Sometimes, I admit, I believed her, she just... talked like she was actually in the room. Other times.. well, it'd have to flat out be magic, you know? Never saw gran do anything even remotely magical... well, except maybe for her won ton soup."

Holly shuffles her feet a little, switching positions to get more comfortable. Her hand hesitates over the package, and then, as if to do it before she changes her mind, she quickly snags another meatbun and chews it more quickly. "So you get paid to run like the wind, hmm? Reminds me of someone. Do you get paid to bank your shins and funny bones too, or have you outgrown that?" Holegn laughs and winks.

Nine Roads Alani "Eh, well," 'Elena' replies, a fond but faraway smile on her face as she looks out over the river, towards the sunset. "My family was...kinda plain, to be honest. Hardworking, boring, you know how it is. I don't want to get into everything, but I just...ran rings around them, sort of. Definitely no magic, unless you count knowing how to set prices and avoid bandits, I guess."

'Elena' sighs and looks back at Holly, but she's still smiling. "And nah, I don't get paid to stub my toes and get my instep run over by my own wheels. I throw -that- service in for free."

Raullaur Coming along the bridge from the east side is a figure taller than most, and though he's dressed in unbleached linen shirt and trousers with leather reinforcement, and bare-pawed, the lion-man's cinnamon-colored mane has fold braided into it. That, along with the obvious lack of arms and armor proclaims him an utter fool--or anyone trying to steal from him to be so.

He's muttering, almost growling, under his breath, and tail lashes in feline irritation as he moves down the center of the bridge.

Tiziri Tiziri comes walking salong the road now, spear in its sheathed state (with peace bonds). The young woman has a bit of a lazy air about her in the way she's just sort of meandering, taking in whatever sights start to interest her. In her other hand she's currently carrying a meat on a stick of some sort, taking bites from it as she does. Finally, she's near the bridge, and pauses as she is looking over it, especially when a hard to miss leonine figure is seen.
Holegn "Father ran a small dojo, while mother tended to a teahouse. Big house, but shared. So lucky in some ways, not so much in others.", Holly replies, a similar faraway look on her face, but leaning more towards sadness than a happy memory. "Setting the right price, and avoiding bandits, are often magic in and of themselves. Good tricks to know, for any sort of business."

Holegn's gaze is drawn to the man crossing over the bridge, or rather, the mane. And tail. But her look is merely a glance, looking back to Elena before it becomes rude.

"Ah, but you do at least get paid, so hopefully that's well worth the free services of toe-stubbing and funny-bone-smashing that you offer." She laughs then, and snorts, which cause her to laugh more.

Nine Roads Alani "Now, see, that makes sense," 'Elena' replies. "In a weird way, I guess it's just as well I didn't have tea. If you were used to really good tea, I'm not sure what was at the bakery would have measured up."

Before 'Elena' can speak again, though, she looks where Holly is looking, following her gaze to the huge lion man. She cracks a bit of a smile at the sight of the huge lion man, bathed in the reds and golds of sunset. "Well. I think I remember him from someplace. It'd be hard to forget..." She pauses and thinks, her yellow eyes happening to land on someone else watching him.

"And I -know- I've met her before. Huh, what are the chances?" Her voice is a bit facetious, as if she's firmly convinced their meeting wasn't coincidence, and is making a wry joke of it.

Raullaur "Legions are bloody /idiotic/! What are the winglords /thinking/ trying to go past here to Nexus? Get the whole East in an uproar, and the fires of war will burn!" Close enough for others to hear a bit of the rant. And then his nose twitches. The grilled meant is a draw and so he makes his way over towards Elena and Holegn. "All right, he rumbles in a purring bass. "Where'd you get those. They smell delicious!"
Holegn "Pff. I have not had any tea for some time. So your tea would have to be truly terrible for me to turn it down. And.. uhm. One. The chances are one, it has happened.", Holegn says with a cheeky grin, the smile fading as she eyes the other stranger approaching. "So are they of good character, or should we be on our guard?", she wonders of the other seated woman, her voice lowering as the beastman draws near.

The red-head takes another meatbun and pops it into her mouth, handily avoiding the question from the leonine one. Her gaze goes to Elena, her smile camouflaged by a hand as she chews.

Nine Roads Alani At this, 'Elena' tosses her blonde hair back and lifts one meat bun--it's got a dough-y outside and delicious meat filling inside. She takes one not-so-ladylike bite, then sort of eyes Raullaur sidelong.

"Eh...honestly, I don't know him so well that I can swear by him. Not seen anything bad, just...don't know him well enough to be sure." She grins at the expression on his face. "I think I hit on how to get his attention, though. Tiziri--or Ardent Vagabond, she answers to either--seems like a good sort so far. I've met her a couple times."

As Raullaur approaches, 'Elena' catches wind of what he's grumbling about, and her eyebrows raise well into her hairline by the time he's done. She doesn't even question when Raullaur walks up, doesn't say word one to him before tossing him a meat bun. She does offer him a wicked grin, though. "Tell you what. You tell me what's going on with the bonehead Cynis legions and I'll show you where they are -and- buy you some. I don't know what spices they put in the meat before they smoke it, but I'm pretty sure it comes from the poppy fields."

Tiziri Tiziri is busy chomping on her own stick of meat as she approaches towards Raullaur and says with a weird little smile on her face. "Your first mistake was thinking the Legions are thinking. I think that's a bit of an oxymoron." She asides towards him, her tone and smile a little lazy and impish looking. Her eyes do take in Elena and Holegn too, the former getting a much more lengthy look as if she's trying to place something.
Raullaur There's a swipe as he snags the bun out of the air and then, after a bitez, his ears slowly raise up from being flattened, and he mutters, slowly losing steam as the grumpiness--mostly--fades.

"An...inexperienced commander...in Grey Falls wanted to take his legion near Nexus. For /training/!" He shakes his head, and the golden beads on the ends of his mane sway. "The Three caught wind of it, so sent me to keep an eye on things...turns out, I could suggest training areas /closer/ to home rather than passing us, worrying Nexus, and drawing Lookshy's attention." He snorts a bit, and then nods to Tiziri. "That or they're not thinking of the Realm, but possible war to win..."

Holegn Holly nods to Tiziri as she approaches, while her hand slips into the package once again, drawing out another meat bun. This one is eaten more slowly, and daintily.

"Oh, they were thinking alright.", the red-head says to the pale woman. "But with the little head downstairs, not up here." Holegn taps at her temple. She side-eyes Elena, "Any chance that you'll get another one to go?"

She finally looks to Raullaur. "Hey, at least you're back in time to get some premo meat pies for free! Elana's looking out for you, it seems."

Nine Roads Alani 'Elena' snorts derisively as she peers in the bag for more meat buns...alas, with three people digging in, there are no more to be had. She shrugs, but gives Holly a firm nod. "That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking...that they were...heh...'waving their little flags', so to speak. I'd tell you what I really think, but mixed company and all." She chuckles darkly. "Sounds like they're lucky they just got ran off. If the Three wanted to make that Legion vanish 'due to the fair folk' or whatever, I bet they could have made it stick."

'Elena' looks thoughtfully up at Tiziri. "...What? We've met before, right?" That's true, of course--Tiziri and 'Elena' have met twice now. Or is it...?

At the last thing Holly says, 'Elena' firmly nods. She quickly stands on the railing of the bridge, then gracefully leaps backwards into a series of handsprings, followed by a kick off the balustrade into a full spinning somersault, feet out, before a proper two-point, feet together landing on the bridge. She buffs her nails and blows on them, unable to keep a little grin off her face.

"Now, then. I'm dying for some tea, and I believe I owe you some meat buns, Raullaur."

Tiziri Clasping her stick of meat between her teeth, the young woman holds her spear in one hand as a fist, and places the other open palm over it in a gesture of greetings towards them all. It has a bit of a whimsical look to it given she has the food in her mouth, but then Tiziri quickly enough grabs that and tears off another peace of it. "Whatever it is, I'm glad it didn't come to battle. That could only have led to something worse down the road." She muses, pursing her lips.

This is when she's looking more thoughtfully at Elena - if more impressed as the quick acrobatic display goes on, then considering more. "I... maybe? You do seem oddly familiar though I can't entirely place my finger on it. I'm sorry, I've met so many people here I'm starting to have things blur together."

Holegn Holly watches as Elena dismounts from the railing, and the red-head simply shuffles forward on her behind, and drops down to land on her feet on the bridge. A pair of sandals, having been tucked aside, are stepped into.

"Well, I am sorry if I further your confusion, my name is Holly. Nice to meet you, Ardent Vagabond." Holegn offers a small bow. "Shall we go for tea and meatbuns, it's probably rude to say no." She glances at Raullaur, and grins. "Keep up, Kitty." The woman has the good sense to at least run.