<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/XMlhw6I.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>"Talan" (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=272443.msg13402563#msg13402563)<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Tavern, Top corner table (C5)<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Kallis<br/><strong>HP:</strong>24 / 24<br/><strong>AC:</strong>AC: 19, TAC: 14, FFAC: 16, CMD: 16<br/><strong>Passives:</strong>Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4, Init +6, Perc +12<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The Three Sisters Tavern - or the more well known, colloquial name, "The Tavern of The Busty Wench," on account of just how many well-endowed women happened to work there - was always relatively busy. It was a nice, cosy Tavern with friendly staff and good food at reasonable prices, so of course it was going to be popular. That was just a fact of MercTown. Good food, good looking girls and the possibility of a tumble with a Redcloak? That was usually enough to drag any hesitant young man off of the cold Lassathian streets and into the warm embrace of the Busty Wench, and rightfully so. Talan had seen the Tavern at its busiest over the past few weeks - being an extremely brutal Lassathian, more and more people were flooding in off the streets to take the bite out of their fingers - and he was somewhat glad that he and Kallis had been lucky enough to get a room before the Rush had started. They tended to move around Taverns a fair amount, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this season would be a bad time for that tactic; if they checked out of the Busty Wench, well, there was no guarantee that they'd be able to find a place even half as nice. Their room wasn't huge, but it was comfortable, well furnished and affordable, and that was all they needed. They'd been looking around for another room, of course, but none had turned up yet and he was honestly rather inclined to stay where they were for the time being.<br/><br/>Of course, it helped that Felicia - the owner of the Tavern and, Talan suspected, far more competent than she sometimes let on - owed them a small favour. A few weeks back, a couple of old drunks had gotten into a screaming match that, as usually happened late at night when alcohol was high and common sense was low, escalated into a group of flying fists. He'd gone for a swing and missed, hitting somebody else, they'd gotten to their feet in response, somebody else tried to split it up and got shoved over somebody elses dinner...etc ad nauseum. Being two of the only individuals present who were actually staying at the Tavern for the night, Talan and Kallis had viewed it as being in their own best interests to intervene to at least salvage some of the furniture, and thanks to their intercession, the fight ended up spilling outside and leaving the Inn relatively unscathed. Hence, whenever they desired to have dinner at the Tavern, no matter how busy it was, they were always guaranteed a table, and maybe a complimentary drink if Felicia was feeling generous. Talan didn't much care for litres of alcohol, but the occasional free ale would never be unwelcome on his table...and Kallis? Well, he limited her to one or two a night. She got even<em>more</em>sticky fingered when she got drunk. He hadn't thought that possible at first, but it truly had to be seen to be believed.<br/><br/>And it seemed that that "Good Deed" was coming in handy as the weeks dragged on, especially tonight. With how busy it was tonight - even more busy than its previous busiest - the Tavern seemed to almost be bursting at the seams with how many patrons were trying to stuff themselves at the various tables. Travelers and workers and merchants alike were rubbing elbows to try and get themselves some room in the center of the main area, the bar was fairly chaotic in its business, and - of course - only ten or twenty feet away from where he and Kallis were sitting right at that moment there were two long tables of really rather raucous orcs and what looked to be members of a local Guild. They were always loud and rambunctious, secure in their "untouchable" status and their supposed duty of ensuring safety through violent beatings of anybody who argued, but they tended to keep their behavior relegated to the occasional wandering hand and loud antics. He hadn't seen them start a brawl in the Tavern yet, but he kept his eye on them regardless. There was a first time for everything, and alcohol was a poor fuel to feed to an untouchable thugs ego.<br/><br/>But, he tried not to worry about it. Tonight was one of the few nights he and Kallis weren't out running one of their scams, and he was intent to enjoy it. He needed to thank Felicia later; the tavern was busy to the extent that had Talan and Kallis not been in Felicia's good graces, they may well not have been able to get a table in the first place...and that would have made dinner really rather awkward. At the very least, once they'd finished eating and made it clear that they weren't going to be ordering anything else at least for a while, they would have probably been asked politely to move along or make their way over to one of the seats that lined the walls for situations like this to make room for other patrons. As it was, their empty plates had been taken away without any comment - save the vapid flirtations of Yira, one of the crowd favourites in the Tavern for her flirtatious behavior and her willingness to "Come with the room," as it were, which Talan had simply smiled politely at - and now he and Kallis were sitting rather cozily in their usual spot, looking in at the room, doing their best to ignore the raucous noise that was going on at the table to their left. Kallis had not yet been the target of any of their leering or vulgarity, and he sincerely hoped that she wouldn't be, more for their sake than hers.<br/><br/>Talan was currently leaning back in his chair comfortably, doing his best to digest his steak and kidney pie in ale batter in a relaxed and casual manner, idly running his fingers through Kal's gorgeous flame red hair as it coiled and spilled down her head in gentle waves that seemed to flicker like embers in the shifting firelight that illuminated the room. For her part, Kal sat perched on his lap, straddling his knee as she relaxed into his chest, her eyes roving the room in her characteristically relaxed-yet-suspicious manner. Not much escaped her when it came down to it, which was always an advantage in any situation. The hand not running through her hair currently sat resting on her outer-upper thigh, his thumb idly tracing patterns on her leg with the edge of one of his playing cards. Call it paranoid, but he always made a point of keeping at least one card near his hand at any one time...you never knew, after all, when things could go pear shaped and people never paid attention to his cards until it was far too late. After all; whoever heard of somebody who could kill you by throwing a playing card at you? That was absolutely absurd! People tended to look for knives or swords or even darts...but cards? Why would they be considered dangerous?<br/><br/>He hummed gently against the top of Kal's head, his lips a hairs breadth from the skin of her forehead as he simply enjoyed the proximity and warmth of his long-time partner and lover as he skimmed the room with his eyes. He pulled out a likely target from the crowd - a slightly overweight man, currently in the process of swigging from his sixth beer as he regaled his companions with some tall tale of his own inflated competence or something.<strong>"Him, by th' fire. Chubby fella, w' th' spillin' beer."</strong>He said quietly.<strong>"Seems like a man who likes'ta think he's clever. Kinda man who thinks he's more 'n what he's given credit for, ego ripe for th' strokin'."</strong>He shifted a little, placing his mouth next to her ear. He gave it a quick kiss - he knew how sensitive her ears were, and feeling her shudder against him was always a pleasant experience - and smiled. This was a game they liked to play in their free time, when they were off the clock, so to speak. They'd pick out a member of the general crowd, and try to invent a scam that could pull them in...but the game was, they had to make it more outlandish and silly, yet still believable, than the other ones idea. A game of Oneup-Conship, as it were. It might sound silly, but...well, what else would two conmen do for fun? Corva - Talan's Raven familiar - for her part sat perched on Talan's shoulder studiously ignoring them both. She tended to get a little huffy when they weren't paying attention to her.<br/><br/>It was fairly tame at the moment - it was only the second round - but it would only get more batcrap crazy as things went on.<strong>"Y' Set up a comp'tition'a some kind, 'n rig it so he wins. Tell 'im as the prize, he gets th' chance t' invest in some fam'us breweries newes' expansion, how he's th' perfect person t' be th' face'a the new branch. Take him on a tour'a y'r facilities, wine 'im 'n dine 'im, stroke his ego 'n maybe shower 'im with th' attention of a beautiful redheaded Half-Elf...'n take his investmen' 'n run. Simple."</strong>He chuckled softly. Obviously, the man was not exactly wealthy so probably wouldn't be the target of one of Talan's cons anyway - he tended to only take from people who either deserved it, or could afford it; hard working, honest peasants just scraping the bottom of the barrel to get by? No, they didn't need him making their lot harder. He was a conman, not a Bandit, a Mob-Hired-Thug or a Priest.<strong>"Your turn, Amen Marth. Good luck."</strong>He gave her ear another soft, feather-light kiss. He could never help himself when they were like this...all day every day, they had to pretend not to know each other, sometimes even for weeks at a time...so when he got her alone like this, he couldn't help but shower her in affection. It was his reward, you might say, for being able to keep his hands off of her throughout the day. Though...well, thanks to her teasing, he wasn't<em>always</em>able to show such restraint. His reward for trying his best, then. With a girl like His Kally, well...that was all you could really ask for. She was a handful alright, but...well, she was<em>his</em>handful, and he wouldn't have it any other way.