I hold your hand in mine

SUMMARY Choler, Morgan, Olav, Sandy, and Sophia get better acquainted at the Ox-Strength over a playful dog, a hunk of cheese, a severed human hand, and an argument about the relative merits of rats, rabbits, cows and wombats.

The door gets knocked open by an eager dog bursting into the Ox-Strength with a bloody hunk of meat in its jaws. On closer inspection, it turns out to be a human hand.

The Gobber settled by the fire with a hunk of cheese the size of a brick sits up, but can only see the waggety tail of the dog, and so she settles back again. Her feet are practically in the wood burning stove, but not quite. The cheese seems to be her focus as she gnaws hungrily at it.

It shouldn't be a surprise to see Sandy atthe OX. She's emerging from the backroom, yelling at someone about something before she plops herself down into a seat, kicking her feet up and tipping her chair back.

Easing past the dog is Sophia, giving it a bit of a worried look before shaking her head. Glancing around the tavern, she spies Sandy in their seat, and angles over in that general direction.

Olav comes through the door a few moments after the dog. "Grey! HERE!" he calls out firmly, and the dog slinks over to him. "DROP IT." The dog stares at him reproachfully and whines, but drops the hand on the floor. He picks the hand up and heads back towards the door.

Choler sits up as more people arrive, and she peers at Olav as he comes in to yell at his dog. She goes to wave at him, but he's heading out again (presumably to give someone a hand). The Gobbo huffs and bites a large hunk out of the cheese, chewing noisily and swallowing. Waiting for Olav to return.

The dog is eyed.

Sandy spots Choler too, but she's mostly distracted by the dog for the moment becasue of course s he is. AWwww!

"Cute," she says.

Olav returns shortly thereafter, with no more than two hands, just in time to hear Sandy. "Thanks!" he replies cheerfully. "Oh you mean Grey. Sorry. Grey, say hello to the nice lady!" He sits down next to Choler, taking up most of the seat, clearly enjoying the fire. "You sharing?" he asks, eyeing the cheese.

Morgan has arrived.

Choler eyes the return of Olav, and his interaction with Sandy. When he settles down next to her, and inquires about the cheese, she turns her head away with a hmmph! The cheese, though, is shared. She breaks off a decent sized chunk and offiers it up to the man.

Grey pads over to Sandy and extends a paw as Olav accepts the cheese. "Thanks!" Then he looks over at Sandy and grins. "Give her some meat stew and she's yours for life," he prompts, regarding her curiously.

Morgan comes walking in with her master work staff in her hand but using it as a walking stick, though not with a limp in her step. She does not notice any one yet but when Olav speaks she notices Grey first and then the others in here. "She is also a cudly dog."

Sandy reaches down and gives the dog's hand a shake before patting it on the head.

"Nice to meet you, dog," she tells teh dog, casually, then leans back again. She takes a big old slurp of her ale.

"What do we say, Grey?" Olav prompts, and the dog barks twice happily.

The Gobbo looks again as someone else approaches, and eyes the woman curiously for a little bit, before remembering she was supposed to be in a huff. Looking away again, Choler takes another large bite of the cheese she holds, and puts her feet back to the woodstove, actually making contact. "Ow!", she squeaks, pulling both feet away, and eyeing them carefully. She looks to Olav a moment, with big round eyes, and then away again.

Morgan oders a small steak for the fluffy puppy and a stew for her self. "So whats new people?"

Grey's eyes widen when the steak is provided and she looks to Olav pleadingly. He nods as he eats Choler's cheese, and she grabs the steak, gobbles half of it, stops, looks like she's making a difficult decision, and then trots determinedly back out the door with half a steak in her mouth. "That was very nice of you," Olav tells Morgan. Then Choler burns her feet and he looks at her, concerned. "Are you all right?"

"...nothing much, Morgan. Surprised to see you here, actually. Doesn't seem like your kind of place on the whole." Sandy has a drink from her mug of ale.

Morgan pets Grey after she finishes her meal "I am low on funds and the food is a bit cheaper here. But the rabit stew here is pretty good."

"...if you believe its actually rabbit," muses Sandy.

"As long as you aren't too -- right, what she said," Olav chimes in.

Morgan shrugs "It could be rat as much as I care as long they prepaired it right."

"Rats are basically city rabbits, anyway," Olav asserts.

Choler turns and places her feet in Olav's lap. "Nooo. I think I burned them.", she says, and then eyes Morgan a moment. "Er, a steak? For a doggo?" The Gobbo peers at Sandy, and cants her head slightly. "What would it be, if not rabbit?" She blinks. "Rat? NOt the first time someone's actually said that about this place. Looking back to Olav, she makes a face. "No, rats are basically walking garbage eaters."

"Eh, rats are fine to eat if you have to. Just hope they're cooked right, yes." Sandy eyes the kitchen. Warily. Just in case. "They cover up the natural flavor anyway."

Morgan nods "I was raised by rangers and they make sure you can forget about tast buds in your mouth."

"Well, for two doggos, if I understood Grey's moral dilemma there correctly. And have you seen what rabbits eat? Of course they'd eat garbage in the city, there's way more garbage here than anything else," Olav asserts as he begins rubbing Choler's feet.

Choler makes a mischeivous sound, as if this were her plan all along, and grins to Olav. "It is rather nice of Grey to bring White half the spoils.", she says with a nod. "And I suppose rabbits might do that. Maybe." The Gobbo looks to Sandy and nods. "Perhaps that is why their spice foods are popular. Can't tell what the meat is." She raises an eyebrow at Morgan. "Forget about taste buds? How do you mean?"

"Derangers, apparently," mutters Sandy when Morgan says that.

Morgan says to Choler "you tend to eat bland or bad tasting foods when your parents like to forage in the wilderness. And you learn to starve when its wombat meat."

Olav shrugs. "Guess it's all in what you're used to. Back in White Bear we pretty much ate whatever we could find, and were glad of it. You all are spoiled down here in the south."

"You seem to enjoy being spoiled too.", the Gobbo says to Olav, offering up another piece of cheese. This one, though, she leans up to feed to him. "Derangers?", Choler asks of Sandy, before looking to Morgan. "What is a wombat?"

Morgan waves her hand in the air as a small fluffy four legged animal apears in the air "that, they can be made in to pets if you have a wide open area."

Olav grins. "Totally," he agrees, taking the cheese from her with a smirk as he continues to massage her feet. "I mean, there are reasons I'm not going back to White Bear. Still, wombat meat is better than badger," he proclaims.

Choler shakes her head and chuckles. "I don't know why you would eat either of those things. When you can hunt a cow with a sledgehammer. BAM!" She punches her thigh with a fist. "Food for six Gobbos for a day." She looks to Olav and nods. "Want to have another sparring match tonight?", she asks of the man, before she looks to Morgan. "What do those fluffy things taste like?"

"Always up for a sparring match," Olav agrees readily. "Can't improve if we don't practice, right? And there aren't many cows up in the Emereth."

The Gobbo grins toothily at Olav, and slowly, almost regretfully, pulls her feet away so she can hop off the seat. Slipping her feet into her wooden sandals, she offers Morgan and Sandy a wave. "Nice to have met you.", Choler says to them before turning back to Olav. "See you at the Fire Lodge, then? In a bit?" She turns and heads out, her sandals making a click-clack, flip-flop sound that retreats into the distance.

Morgan says to the goblin "you eat what you can find and we avoided eating cows as we sold them."

"FEh," is what Sandy says. She srhugs her shoulders and then eyes the gobber for a long moment. "Huh," she adds after she departs.

"Sure," Olav agrees as Choler leaves, then "Sold them to who?"

Morgan turns to Olav after she dispells the immage of the fluffy creature "to butchers and bigger areas."

Olav nods. "Oh, right... sorry, I forget how it is in the south. That makes sense. We never really had anyone to sell to," he explains, "so we just ate whatever we butchered."

Morgan nods "Well we did have a lot of chickens and some good fruits and such depending on the season."

Olav orders another beer and nods to Morgan. "Sounds nice. Where was your farm?"

Morgan takes a moment to think of direction "Belvil is to the north east, its about three days away from here."

Wrinkling her nose, Sandy seems grossed out by the fluffy creature imagery! Blech! She has another drink.

Olav laughs at Sandy. "What, you don't like animals? You seemed to like Grey well enough." He matches her drink for drink.

Morgan gives Grey a ear scratch "who cant love Grey."

"Different with dogs," says Sandy, firmly. Then she has adrink again.

"Point," Olav replies, ordering another ale. "She is a wonderful animal."

Morgan nods "I wish I could have a dog, but then its better to fuss on other peoples dogs."

"vCan't have a dog, Morgan? Why's that?" asks Sandy, peering at her.

Olav grins. "I'm sure Grey agrees with you about fussing over other people's dogs. Especially if you keep offering steak."

Morgan says as runs her hand down the back of Greys back "I been doing to much work for the guilds I dont have time to take care of a living thing."

"Eh, I suppos ethat's true. The guild /can/ send you for lengthy periods. IT's why I've had a cat for a while." Sandy sniffs.

Morgan pretends to covers Greys ears "cats are great also."

Olav laughs at Morgan's gesture. "It's OK... she's not a racist. She might eat a cat who looked at her funny, or who messed with me or White, but then again I might do the same. Long as they're peaceful, though, Grey won't mess with them."

Morgan looks to the time "well I should get going you two have fun."