Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Jun 16, 2022 14:49:16 GMT -5
Nina's eyes went wide once more.
She nodded quickly and ate a bit too fast, looking to the side a few times as the ring brushed against the spoon. She wasn't used to wearing jewellery that wasn't made of beads.
“Have you had lunch, Mr. Helver? I can keep a seat for you if you wanna grab a bowl,” Nina finally remembered to say.
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Podor Helver
Established
Roleplay posts: 11
Age: 48
Registered: Feb 20, 2022 8:58:22 GMT -5
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Post by Podor Helver on Jun 16, 2022 15:56:49 GMT -5
"I ate before ye did lass, I just felt like chewing the gristle eh?" He told her, standing up. "If ye are finished, I'll take ye down to the waterfront."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Jul 29, 2022 16:55:49 GMT -5
She nodded and followed, returning her bowl on the way out* to a surly manservant with hands full of sand.
*not the spoon. The spoon was hers, made from the wood of a tree in another world.
She wondered whom she was going to meet. And she also wondered-
Tick, thonk, trotted Podor Helver alongside her.
Nina hadn't noticed it before. The table had covered it. But – she wondered, with her gaze sliding sideways and down, twitching back up every now and then in vain efforts to be subtle – wait a moment, did Mr. Helver have a stick for a leg?
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Podor Helver
Established
Roleplay posts: 11
Age: 48
Registered: Feb 20, 2022 8:58:22 GMT -5
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Post by Podor Helver on Aug 30, 2022 18:35:10 GMT -5
She nodded and followed, returning her bowl on the way out* to a surly manservant with hands full of sand. *not the spoon. The spoon was hers, made from the wood of a tree in another world. She wondered whom she was going to meet. And she also wondered- Tick, thonk, trotted Podor Helver alongside her. Nina hadn't noticed it before. The table had covered it. But – she wondered, with her gaze sliding sideways and down, twitching back up every now and then in vain efforts to be subtle – wait a moment, did Mr. Helver have a stick for a leg? As it turns out, he did, seemingly made out of cherry, judging by it's reddish tone. He clunked his way out of the tent, moving with purpose down to the waterfront.
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Lugruk
Established
Roleplay posts: 25
Age: 46
Appearance: A burly orcish man with jade green skin and yellow eyes. His dark hair is tinged with streaks of gray, and he sports an impeccably groomed beard that tied off into thick ropes on either side.
Equipment: A chain shirt, various knives, a tin full of beard oil, and a morningstar kept behind the bar for emergencies.
Skills and Abilities: Lugruk commands incredible strength, though in he is extremely out of practice in terms of combat. His martial prowess has been supplanted by a talent for drink, be it serving to an inn or brewing his own.
Registered: Feb 15, 2022 15:38:45 GMT -5
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Post by Lugruk on Mar 14, 2023 20:47:54 GMT -5
Lugruk entered the mess hall smelling of liquor and befuddlement.
"...guess I could try the reeds Roxanne mentioned by the clocktower. Last I checked, sugarcane wasn't supposed to grow upside-down..." He muttered, giving little attention to his surroundings as he approached the counter. "This island's trying to kill me. Gotta try it again with a lower concentration. How the hell was I supposed to know the blue fruit would -"
At the offer of a mug of cool, refreshing kelp beer, Lugruk was pulled out of his musings. He made a face, raising a hand and shaking his head in refusal, and instead took a plate topped with a cut of what was probably meat, and a handful of stalks that were just as likely vegetables. Lugruk never actually knew what manner or beast or plant he was eating when he came to the mess hall, but he could tell you one thing: It always slapped. The food was consistently way better than it had any right to be on a mysterious, magic-eating death island. He ought to have paid his compliments to the chef at some point by now, but that task had proven somewhat difficult - seemed like she almost never left the kitchen. He'd have to ask Naoki about it some time.
"Aha! And speak of the devil."
He spotted her, sitting alone at the end of the hall- a rare occurrence, to be sure. He couldn't remember the last time he caught sight of her without one of what he assumed to be her inner circle. The broody one with the scars. Roxanne. The guy with the cool hat who talks to himself. The archer lady that looks at that guy like a dog looks at a raw steak.
In any case, this was his chance to talk business. He steadied himself, putting on his best smile and taking a step forward.
"Hey there, Ms. Lady Naoki!" He called with a broad wave of his hand, sliding into the seat across from her. "How's it been?"
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on Mar 16, 2023 16:09:56 GMT -5
Looking up as someone approaches, Naoki has an idea of who it is based on the weight of the footfalls. She’s proven right as the orc seats himself opposite her.
“Lugruk.” Nodding in greeting, Naoki sets her quill down for the first time in a while. To her right, a heavy ledger, open to a page half-filled with line items. To her left, a half-eaten plate of something biscuit-adjacent, long since cold.
“It’s… been. Acceptable, certainly,” she supposes, looking over her work. “Inventories are a touch laborious, but nothing new, certainly.” Waving a dismissive hand, Naoki shrugs. A perceptive eye might surmise that she’s been working a fair amount, but not so much as she hasn’t before.
“Oh.” She points at him, as if remembering who he is. “Lugruk. I’ve been meaning to speak with you. Have a biscuit, if you’d like.” She pushes the plate halfway across the table. “When we met, you mentioned that you serve drink?” This is a leading question. Their initial discussion was not in any depth at all, and she’d like him to elaborate some.
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Lugruk
Established
Roleplay posts: 25
Age: 46
Appearance: A burly orcish man with jade green skin and yellow eyes. His dark hair is tinged with streaks of gray, and he sports an impeccably groomed beard that tied off into thick ropes on either side.
Equipment: A chain shirt, various knives, a tin full of beard oil, and a morningstar kept behind the bar for emergencies.
Skills and Abilities: Lugruk commands incredible strength, though in he is extremely out of practice in terms of combat. His martial prowess has been supplanted by a talent for drink, be it serving to an inn or brewing his own.
Registered: Feb 15, 2022 15:38:45 GMT -5
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Post by Lugruk on Mar 26, 2023 18:51:38 GMT -5
This was it. The make-or-break. The corridor pitch.
"That I do, ma'am." Lugruk began, not thinking twice before taking a biscuit from Naoki's plate and adding it to his own. "Ran my very own tavern back in the homeland. Got lucky when the waters came. Was in a position to snag all the booze and equipment when we loaded up the ship and turned tail out of there. S'why I was able to whet your fine folk's whistles at your luau with nary a moment's notice."
He felt a single bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck. Any confidence that Lugruk demonstrated was not unearned, but he had omitted a few details that may have been of interest to Naoki. Chief of which being that Lugruk had only owned and operated said tavern for a few months before the flood washed the investment out to sea - and that even within that time, the tavern had never actually seen much return on said investment. While Lugruk recognized that the latter half of that sentiment was due to... shall we say, matters of pigmentation... such notions may not be of immediate interest to the calculating, silver-tongued venture capitalism that he could only assume sat before him. Best to say less unless prompted otherwise.
"Plenty more where that came from, too. And the means to produce more after that! Given the proper resources, of course. I'm actually following up on a lead in the near future. Could land me a long-term source of honey if all goes well. Gods willing, we could be drinking mead within a year's time!"
The orc leaned back in his chair, allowing himself a moment to daydream. "I can see it now - the first brew of the new world."
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on Mar 26, 2023 21:13:25 GMT -5
Listening, Lady Naoki nods. At the mention of the first brew, she smirks. “I wouldn’t count that kelp slop either,” she murmurs.
“But very good,” she admits, dismissing the rest with a wave of her hand. “Of all those we have here — if you’ll believe — only four have experience behind a bar, and of them, my intuition prefers you.” Singling Lugruk out with a gesture, she nods, mostly to herself.
There’s a moment’s pause as Naoki takes a half bite of biscuit and considers.
“I would have you head up Port Argentium’s tavern, then,” she informs him. “Construction should be done in a bit more than a week’s time. I will be reassigning some others to assist you, but it will be your responsibility to task them and oversee operations. Some other stores of alcohol will be provided, and you’ll work in cooperation with the existing Mess Hall staff to serve food. We’ll speak more of the details in perhaps a week, prior to the opening. At that point, we can also discuss what you’ll need for brewing.”
After washing down the biscuit with something from her mug, Lady Naoki again considers the fellow sitting opposite her.
“In the meantime,” she continues, putting a hand to her chin, “I would ask after the lands from whence you hail. Not so much,” she’s quick to assure him, “Especially if it’s troublesome to speak of. … But I’m curious,” she admits, shrugging. “And I will tell you equally of myself — or whatever else you may wish to know.”
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Lugruk
Established
Roleplay posts: 25
Age: 46
Appearance: A burly orcish man with jade green skin and yellow eyes. His dark hair is tinged with streaks of gray, and he sports an impeccably groomed beard that tied off into thick ropes on either side.
Equipment: A chain shirt, various knives, a tin full of beard oil, and a morningstar kept behind the bar for emergencies.
Skills and Abilities: Lugruk commands incredible strength, though in he is extremely out of practice in terms of combat. His martial prowess has been supplanted by a talent for drink, be it serving to an inn or brewing his own.
Registered: Feb 15, 2022 15:38:45 GMT -5
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Post by Lugruk on Apr 23, 2023 3:27:24 GMT -5
Lugruk blinked once, stunned. Really? Just like that?
"A week!" He exclaimed, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. His mouth curled into a tusked, toothy grin that might have otherwise been responsible for frightening children had the situation been stripped of context. "Why, Ms. Naoki, you picked the right orc for the job! I'll have this town staggering through the streets and singing shanties all before summer's end, you can count on it!"
The orc might have continued such exultations (and accompanying hand gestures) if it weren't for the sudden awareness that he had become the loudest person in the room - as well as that of Naoki's ever-steady, stone-cold demeanor. Yeah, this woman was good. Lugruk abruptly caught himself, making an effort to reign it in. Clearing his throat and folding his hands on the table, he continued.
"It'd by my pleasure to head the tavern, Lady Naoki. We can hash out the details as we get closer to the opening."
Lugruk raised an eyebrow at Naoki's following inquiry. "Troublesome?" A series of memories raced through his mind, each of which most would consider the word 'troublesome' to be, as a label, a profound understatement. Luckily, the question was directed towards Lugruk's willingness to speak on such matters, to which the word did not apply in the slightest.
“I suppose I hail from a lot of places over the years. Brackenbrook, most recently. Decent-sized village off the tarnished coast, just shy of Valenport.” Lugruk squinted, recognizing the meaning behind Naoki’s blank stare. “Right, none of that actually means anything to you. I keep forgetting.”
He started over. “Continent proper’s called Komali. It's, uh… big?” Lugruk faltered, fishing for the right words. “Spooky, on occasion? Generally a mess? Guess it's kinda hard to describe something when it's all you’ve ever known, huh. I wouldn’t even know what’s worth mentioning compared to Isra. You got specific questions, feel free to ask."
“Valenport’s great, though. Big, sprawling port city, vice and depravity as far as the eye can see. You know - the good stuff. Did most of my, ah… sailing off that coast before settling down with the tavern. Worked odd jobs all around the gulf up to that point, grew up in an orc stronghold before that. Guess life’s took me all over the map, huh? Even more so now that we landed ourselves in this mess.”
“Assuming we’re even still on the map.” He chuckled. “Got some of my old crew trying to convince me we’re all dead already, and that all this is just the lot of us fucking around in limbo for the rest of eternity. I told him we weren’t that lucky." Lugruk shrugged, unconcerned, tearing off a hunk of a biscuit with his tusks. "Hey, but that's plenty about me. I wanna hear more about this place's namesake, how you came be running the show. You were the boss lady before the flood too, right? More about your people, too - we don't exactly have cat-ladies like you where I'm from. There a name for folk like yourself?"
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Lady Naoki
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 345
Appearance: Naoki is a curvaceous woman of average height, indeterminate age, and catlike features. Her hair is a dark auburn, often pulled back into a long braid. Her ears are both soft and fluffy, and her tail is never less than perfectly groomed.
Allegiances: New Isra
Place of Residence: Port Argentium
Registered: Mar 16, 2021 22:31:18 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Naoki on Jul 29, 2023 19:17:19 GMT -5
Lady Naoki’s lips crack into a smirk at Lugruk’s exuberance. She did pick the right orc for this job. It’s very easy to see him cleaning mugs, hollering at unruly patrons, or hauling a fresh keg up on his shoulder. She would have hired him, once upon a time.
Listening on as Lukgruk starts into his history, Naoki hums, amused. She’s not heard even one of the names he rattles off. He could be making it all up and she wouldn’t know. Her eyebrows bump at the mention of “sailing”, and she smirks again, having known her share of “sailors.”
“It’s funny,” she remarks, gesturing to Lugruk with a half-eaten biscuit. “Your world and mine, completely distinct. I’m a learned woman — I’ve read the histories, traveled the lands, sailed the seas, all that. Wherever you’re from is so far removed from the entire world that I knew, it may as well be a separate realm entirely. Yet here you sit, as real as anything.” Shaking her head, Lady Naoki sighs. She doesn’t much like that whole concept. It’s very messy.
“But for folk like me?” Smiling, she shakes her head. “Only Naoki. As far as I know, I’m one of a kind, but that story isn’t one you’ll hear over merely biscuits.” She gestures at the plate, disparaging. As passable as the biscuits are, they’re not nearly enough to have her spilling her secret origin story in a public setting.
“However, the story of Isra, my people?” Waggling a finger, she tsks. “You’ve gone and wound me up, so I hope that bench is comfy.”
After polishing off the remainder of the biscuit in her hand and having a swig of her drink, Lady Naoki begins.
“Isra, before it was even called that, was The Free City. It was founded by a group of refugees of the previous cataclysm, on the ideals of acceptance and democracy. Other nations that rose up around the same time were more singly minded and less accepting of refugees — or vagrants such as myself — but we’ll get to that.”
“It was my suspicion,” Lady Naoki goes on to say, “That others shared, of course, that there would eventually be another cataclysm. It was generally surmised by the survivors that the cataclysm that brought The Free City about was ‘caused’ by mis— or overuse of magic — Magewars and things of that nature. A cycle of death and rebirth, brought about by the most primal forces of the world itself, to cleanse the arrogant and return the world to a more natural state of being.”
“And having learned that, I did what seemed prudent” she continues. “Once in power, I regulated magic. Kept the powerful stuff in the hands of the few, kept those few under watch, and kept the scale of things quite manageable. Outside of a few incidents, there was never anything that I would have categorized as gross misuse. Perhaps our friend in the sky would disagree, but.” She shrugs. “For all the good that did.”
“In any case, I came to The Free City as a young, rapscallion type, if you would believe it. I happened to meet Grandma — the same one you may have met here — and she decided it prudent to put me in charge of her newly opened bar: The Midnight Sun.”
Uttering the name is like a spell, sending Naoki back in her seat and glazing her eyes over with memories.
“It was good,” she eventually says. “The thing that we did? Our staple? Alchemical alcoholic beverages. At the intersection of potioncraft and mixology. Many of our drinks were merely showy, delicious, and mildly addictive, but some of them were quite potent.”
“The one that amused me the most was Avalon,” she continues. “‘The beverage of heroes and gods. Like gold in a glass.’ It functioned essentially as a combination of Infusion of Luck and Essence of Bravery. It was expensive enough not to become a problem too often, but you can imagine, I’m sure, what might happen if some drunkard suddenly were to grow his britches three sizes and be granted the gift of preternatural luck.” She exhales, remembering the good times.
“And I’ll tell you:” Naoki goes on, brandishing a finger at Lugruk, “It was a bitch to source the ingredients. As our offerings grew, I had to import increasingly large quantities of not just alcohol, but all these alchemical reagents. Eventually, we started to produce our own ingredients, but before that, there was a long time where I was buying up every scrap of half-reactive plant, mineral, and animal-part that came through the city gates.”
“That’s where I learned accounting," Naoki goes on, still further. "Balancing the books of The Midnight Sun, I learned to manage money and inventory.” Reaching over, she lays a hand on the ledger she was working on prior to Lugruk’s arrival.
“And business was booming,” she adds. “By this point, I and The Midnight Sun had grown both wealthy and influential. We had a found-family, band of misfits, not-quite-crime family sort of camaraderie about it, and attracted a lot of great talent. I prided myself: anyone could come up to my office and leave with a job. I had alchemists, artificers, assassins, a Demonlord, a spymaster, and plenty more. Most bars don’t have spymasters, hm?”
Naoki chuckles a bit to herself, remembering.
“I look back most fondly on those days,” she says. “Before my responsibility extended any further than the bouncer at the front door. … It’s not so much about the responsibility, though, if I’m to be honest. It was that I hadn’t lost anyone yet. All those important to me could be found up and down that second-floor hallway. There was nothing bigger than us, nothing stronger than the bonds we shared, and it hadn't yet been long enough for anyone to leave."
She's quiet for a long moment, but not long enough to invite comments.
“In any case, at some point, I made the mistake of looking toward some grander ambitions,” Lady Naoki continues. “So I approached The Free City’s leader: one Lord Ildesias Xen Torsal, (Just Ildesias to his friends) and impressed him into appointing me the city’s treasurer. The city’s finances were…”
She pauses, looking for the appropriate words. “A mess, let’s say.”
“But, it meant I essentially had a clean slate to work with. I eventually sorted them out and got things running in a reasonable enough way. The books never truly balanced until years later, but it didn’t matter." She waves all that away.
“The governing body of The Free City at that time was The Assembly,” Naoki goes on to explain. “Ninety or so elected officials, who would all go sit around a big circular table and argue. By being appointed Minister of Finance, I automatically received a seat there, but the Assembly never really did anything. It was endless debates and votes over things that didn't matter."
"Ah, but they did choose the name," she recalls.
“I remember the meeting, the voting. The runner-up name was Sylvarus,” she adds. “A bit more stately, but… too elven.” Trailing off, Naoki shrugs. “I can’t imagine having ruled a nation called Sylvarus.”
“And it was around that time that I commissioned The Depravity,” she adds, inclining her head in its direction. “What still amuses me: no one ever questioned why a Treasurer and bar manager would need such a vessel. (The largest warship the world had seen before or since.) I made a few overtures that it was for cargo, and no one paid any attention when I had the ballista installed or the armor plating bolted on. Full glad I did, too. Even bearing in mind the number of ‘compensating’ jokes I’ve endured, I believe it’s far and away my asset with the singly highest return on investment. It's often said that ships are naught more than a bottomless pit to throw gold down — and they certainly are. Truly: do not get me started on Isra's naval expenditures. … But The Depravity... I credit it not only with my survival today, and with that of all those we fished from the drink on our way to these accursed Isles, but with my first victory in war and several thereafter. It's served me well."
“There was a brief stint where I was ‘Madame Naoki, Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of Isra.’ But that’s hardly worth mentioning,” she supposes, waving it away.
It's at this moment that Naoki recalls that she's speaking to someone, and looks at Lugruk for the first time since beginning her monologue. “You’re following all this, I trust.” She smirks. He’s not free to go.
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Lugruk
Established
Roleplay posts: 25
Age: 46
Appearance: A burly orcish man with jade green skin and yellow eyes. His dark hair is tinged with streaks of gray, and he sports an impeccably groomed beard that tied off into thick ropes on either side.
Equipment: A chain shirt, various knives, a tin full of beard oil, and a morningstar kept behind the bar for emergencies.
Skills and Abilities: Lugruk commands incredible strength, though in he is extremely out of practice in terms of combat. His martial prowess has been supplanted by a talent for drink, be it serving to an inn or brewing his own.
Registered: Feb 15, 2022 15:38:45 GMT -5
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Post by Lugruk on Sept 10, 2023 0:59:43 GMT -5
Lugruk chuckled, hearing Naoki loud and clear. “Rain check, then. Just gives me another incentive to get the bar up and running. My experience, the best way to get someone to spill their secrets is over a flagon.”
‘Vagrants.’ Lugruk felt surprise creep into his brow, but didn’t interrupt. The word seemed so out of place as a thing used to describe someone like Naoki. But the more he thought about it… well, it made sense, didn’t it? Naoki might know how to play the part well enough to blend in, but Lugruk had met nobles - real nobles. The ones that had been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Never had to worry about where their next meal would come from, wanted for nothing from cradle to grave.
At times it was difficult to remember how utterly bat-shit insane their situation was. But here Naoki was anyway, taking it all in stride. Not hiding away in some ivory tower waiting for the whole thing to blow over - she was here, in the gut with the rest of them. Touching shoulders with the common folk, eating stale biscuits in the mess hall, getting wasted at a luau, and getting her hands dirty trying to actually make something of this hellhole. Talking about a bar, of all things. Here, at the end of the world.
People don’t volunteer to captain a sinking ship unless they’ve been on one before.
He kept listening as she spoke of magic, of cataclysms. Of control. “Had us some folks like that. We were lucky enough to stay out of most of it. Continent across from ours though, Adorea - they’re the ones with all the strong opinions. Place got fucked to high heaven because some wizard fuck went sticking their wand where they shouldn't have. But then this other kingdom - they think all that gives ‘em a reason to start pointing crossbows at every six-year-old who sneezes a fireball. Fuckin’ mess. Hope those pricks are drowning slow.”
It all clicked further into place when Naoki revealed that she herself managed a bar (Lugruk knew there was a good reason he liked her). This was new territory. He felt wildly lucky to have a benefactor that shared his love of the craft, but also a tremendous amount of pressure at that same benefactor actually knowing what she was doing. He couldn’t bullshit her even if he wanted to.
At Naoki’s gesture at the ledger, Lugruk chuckled, his mind drifting back to the last entrepreneurial lecture he had attended before the flood. “Economics. Sloppy bitch, am I right?”
But then, the draught of gold - Lugruk’s eyes glinted with excitement as the realization hit him. “Wait, wait - you’re talking about Teruviz! At least, I guess that’s what we called it. But it's just the same as you said - golden booze, a shot of pure luck. I was all but convinced it was just a myth. You’re telling me you’ve actually brewed it?”
Lugruk remembered, once again, that he was in fact supposed to be listening to a story. The orc began to wave his hands in the air in an effort to dispel the child-like wonder threatening to derail Naoki’s proverbial yarn. “Right, right. Later. But you can bet your ears we’re circling back around to that!”
He listened to the remainder of Naoki’s narration intently and without further interruption. Her tone had become… if not grave, then at least sobering. The voice of someone remembering, fondly, a time when things were simpler. Lugruk smiled softly. “I’m following. A little over my head, but I get the gist.”
He thought for a quiet moment, letting the period of stillness Naoki had afforded the conversation steep in the air. “Do you miss it? Politics, diplomacy. Cloak and dagger. I know you’re still calling the shots here, but… it's different, isn’t it?”
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