An Elf And A Human Walk Into A Bar

The pub is quiet today, most of the regulars are either at work or at home with their families, so there are many open tables and empty seats at the bar. The barmaids are chatting with the bartender as there's little to do but wait for customers to enter. At a table near the fireplace sits a huge human warrior dressed in a black hooded cloak with scarlet lining that hides gleaming banded mail. An ornate, almost gaudy looking greatsword who's hilt and scabbard is decorated with a noble girl's dower worth of jewels rests against the table next to him. At his feet lays a very big mauve-colored fur dire panther that yawns and stretches a bit before curling up again. Sitting across from him is a young half-Sif girl of about 7 or 8 years old that is similarily attired as the man and is talking animatedly as the man looks on fondly, yet a bit tiredly.

The door opens as a well-dressed elf wanders in, a backpack over a shoudler and a bow on the other as she yawns and heads over towards the free booths. The sparkly of course draws her attention, however, as she glances over, stopping, and blinking a bit. "Oh, hey Darius..." she says, yawning a bit as she covers her mouth. "Who's your friend there?"

The girl turns and gives a big smile to the elf, "I'm Aika! I'm Daddy's daughter, he saved me a while ago from some baaaaaad men and adopted me, so now I'm training to be JUUUUUUUUUUST like him!" The girl's voice is sweet and musical and you can see she has a short sword that rests on her chair (blunted of course for practice). She looks at the elf maiden and then back at Darius and says, "Daddy, who is she?" She gives him big eyes that has a mischievious glint to them. Darius says, "That's Lollia, we were part of a party several months ago, though I forget the circumstances. Lollia... my daughter Aika, Aika... Lollia..." He waves a hand, "Come, sit, and tell me of your adventures thus far."

"It was tromping around in the woods for some dumb reason." Lollia sniffs. "I got my boots all mucked, and they were practically new too..." She sits a bit, then shrugs and pulls up a chair at the table, setting her backpack. "Nothing too exciting of late. Had to go find a midget albino bullette, which was kinda okay save for the spider ambush."

Aika ooohs and leans forwards, "Spiders? What kind of spiders? How did you kill them? Were they difficult to fight? Did they try and trap you in a big web to eat you?" Her eyes sparkle, wanting to know the complete gory details as Darius rolls his eyes, "Aika..." He trails off and shakes his head, he has only himself to blame having told her stories of his own adventures a bit too detailed. He raises an eyebrow as he thinks, "A midget... albino... bullette?" He asks.

"Actually existed. Totally was ugly cute." Lollia point sout, raising a finger as she crooks it at one of the serving girls, then orders an ale before looking back. "Tree spiders, so more the drop on you from suprise than webbbing to wind you up really." She frowns. "Especially since I was in a tree at the time. But better spiders than ogres I guess..."

Aika nod nods quickly, wrapped up in Lollia's words, listening intently, "So what did you do? Shoot them with your bow?" She asks as Darius chuckles and says, "Ugly cute? That's a description that I never would have thought would be used." He also motions for an ale for himself and milk for Aika.

Lollia wrinkles her nose. "Well, more magical screaming and zapping them with a wand, because I had to climb out of the tree and it's hard to fire a bow with one hand free." she says with a shrug, sliding the bow onto the back of her chair. "They went down fairly quickly, we had a pretty large group. Didn't get quite the fight we were expecting, the bullette was pretty easy to catch really. I was sure it was gonna be a baby and we were going to have some giant albino mama bullette trying to eat our faces though.

Darius laughs then and says, "That might have been a bit of a problem yeah..." Aika ooohs again and says, "So you're a magician as well as a ranger? That's really cool!" She claps her hands, delighted by this and Darius looks at her and smirks, "Are you thinking of changing your job again?" Aika looks back at Darius and pouts, "No Daddy, I just like hearing about adventures because I'm too little still to go on one yet."

Lollia sniffs. "Ranger? *I* am a wizard. I just happen to also be an elf and not a bad shot with a bow." she corrects. "It's nice to have a fallback when I run out of spells, mostly." She pauses as her ale is dropped off. "I mean, granted, I don't know a LOT of spells, so it tends to be a fallback pretty often...." she admits.

Aika giggles and says, "So a really BAD wizard?" Darius reaches out and flicks Aika on the forehead and says, "Oi, what have I told you about being cheeky like that?" Aika holds her forehead, tears in her eyes and looks at Darius, "Owie! M'sorry!" She turns and looks contrite, "Sorry Ms. Lollia, I didn't mean to insult you..."

Lollia hmmphs, her pride obviously a little stung, though she looks mollified byt he apology. "For your information, I am a diviner...it means I don't go throwing spells around like exploder invoker whatever..." she says, sipping from her ale. "So I have plenty of spells! Just...not a lot intended for combat. Yet." she grumbles.

Even though she was just scolded, at that from Lollia, Aika covers her mouth and tries to hide the shaking of her shoulders and her giggles as Darius glares at her. Darius then says, "Nothing wrong with not being a combat mage, I may not understand magic, but what little I do know is that not every person is suited to throw fireballs and the like. Some of the most successful wizards I have heard of, merely use support and creation magic in ways not intended to get incredible results." With that he gives Aika a long look and says, "Remember Aika, I am teaching you the sword, but there is more to swordsmanship than just hacking and slashing... magic is the same." He nods to Lollia.

Lollia sits up a bit straighter. "That's correct. Just because I'm not as flashy as other combat mages doesn't mean I can't get the job done." She frowns. 'I totally could throw a fireball too. If I knew the spell. And had time to memorize it."

Darius nods and Aika pouts and says, "Yes Daddy..." She trails off then, lost in her own thoughts for now. Darius then turns to Lollia, "So what brings you back to the city? An ale, a hot bath and a room at the inn to relax?"

"Well of course I cam back to the city! I'm hardly going to go camp out when there's a perfectly good room I rent here and actual food that was cooked with more than a stick shoved through it and stuck over a campire." the blonde elf says, tossing her hair a bit. "I much prefer having a bit of civilization around me."

Darius quirks a smile, "Quite unlike other elves I've known then... but then to each their own, I suppose it would get lonely camping out all the time with just monsters for company?" He says this ironically.

"Ugh, yes." The elf sniffs. "I am sooo not sleeping in a tree all night to avoid monsters or something out by myself. That'd be stupid, and I"m /hardly/ stupid." she points out. Just in case it wasn't clear.

Darius chuckles, "Never thought for a second you were..." He grins at her and says, "Though I've never slept in a tree, I usually used a tent... and watches... among other things..." Yep, he's teasing her a bit and Aika pouts and says, "Daddy!!!! You're not being nice to Ms. Lollia!" And this time she flicks Darius on the forehead. Darius repents, "Ah yes, my apologies, it's just a little teasing."

"Ugh, watches. I hate waking up before I'm ready." Lollia grumbles, then waves it off. "It's fine, it's an elf thing. Everyone expects we're going to enjoy sitting out on a tree branch everywhere looking mysterious or ethereal or some cr...ah, stuff like that." she says, catching herself. "I mean, I DO look gorgeous and ethereal, but I'd rather do it in town with a comfy bed an dstuff."

Darius grins and can't resist and says, "What about a nice warm warrior to share it with... joking! Joking!" He holds up his hands in surrender as Aika raises her tiny fist to smack her dad for being naughty.

Lollia wrinkles her nose. "Not entirely necessary, no..." she says with a haughty sniff. "Besides they usually just hog blankets."

Darius says under his breath, "I don't hog blankets... get too darned hot..."

"If you're a ranger you probably have your cat for snuggling on cold nights anyway." Lollia notes archyly, taking a sip from her mug.

The panther opens her eyes and sits up with a hmmph? type noise, tilting her head and looking at Lollia confusedly. Darius chuckles and says, "Fluffy is more of a pain then a blanket sadly... she tends to try to lay on my body like a housecat and let me tell you, it's hard to sleep when you have several hundred pounds of muscle and fur using you for a bed."

"Hard to breath, yes." Lollia says, eyeing the big cat, then finishing off her mug of ale with a little huff of appreciation. "But still, better than her kneading you or something, I suppose." She sets the mug back down. "Mm, well, it's been pleasant talking with you Darius, but I was just stopping in for a quick drink before hurrying off to a job." She scoops up her backpack and bow. "See you about? Nice meeting you Aika..."