| Tales over Ales |
| Summary: | Justin, Martyn, Katrin, and Veris tell stories over ales at the Rockliff Inn. |
| Date: | 30/May/2012 |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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| Rockcliff Inn - Terrick's Roost |
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| The Rockcliff Inn is one of the better inns within the town and it shows with the well-lit interior and the relative cleanliness to the other locations in Terrick's Roost. The tables are polished with oils and the floor regularly swept. A set of booths towards a darker rear of the Inn's bottom floor, just beneath the staircase, are where whores generally socialize and eye prospects from when not waiting tables. Signs over the undersized bar area advertise prices for ales and wines as well as several different choices of food to be served at the small eating area by the bar or in the main open area in its comfortable seating. A door behind the bar leads to the kitchen and cellar while another near the staircase leads to a private room that would appear to be off-limits to the 'wait staff' except for food and drink service. |
| Wed May 30, 289 |
Missing previous poses
Justin draws out a chair near to them though not necessarily at their table and settles himself into it, waiting for a server to come and take his order, "I am well enough, Lord Martyn. Getting back to work on various concerns here. A little progress every day." Not perhaps as much as he'd like but he's young and sometimes impatient. To Katrin, Justin smiles a little, "That is very good news. Trade, even one sale at a time, is definately something we wish to encourage. I hope your brother will be well pleased with his commission." When the serving girl comes out, Justin orders ale. It'll be watered down of course, unless you pay a lot extra. Things are tight.
"That's true," Martyn replies to Katrin, nodding as he listens to the other two. Ordering himself some ale as well, he nods a bit at Justin's words. "A little progress every day works well," he offers to the Terrick.
"We are all trying to do our part to help revitalize those most damaged by the fighting," Katrin replies quietly to Justin with a nod. "My own House is doing what we can to assist."
Veris pokes his head into the Rockcliff and looks around furtively, carefully scanning the area three times before stepping through. This is followed by the most conspicuous 'I'm trying to be inconspicuous' casual walk over to the bar where he throws down the coin for two ales and glances over his shoulder to scan the room again. Whatever or whoever he's looking for doesn't seem to be around, so he visibly relaxes and carries his two drinks over to find somewhere to sit.
His smile might be a little thin, trying to keep up his own morale. Justin's drink comes out and he both pays the girl a few coppers and thanks her. "Aye, one day at a time, I suppose." Well, Veris's slinking is a bit hard to miss. The Terrick arches a brow and idly watches Veris doing whatever that strange young man is doing.
"Patience is a virtue," Martyn offers with a bit of a smile now, before his gaze goes over to Veris as well, studying the young man for a few moments. Then back to the two others.
"The amount of work that has been done so far has been quite impressive," Katrin encourages. "You should not be the least bit disheartened." She smiles, but it sharpens slightly on seeing Veris and his slinking. She just sits back and waits.
Slinky-Veris passes tables by, looking for the right spot, which takes him past Justin, Katrin, and Martin. When he sees Justin, he starts a bit, sending a bit of ale splashing to the floor from each mug. "Er - good day, m'lord," he greets with that odd, mouth-only kind of smile. "Ser," he adds with a bow of the head to Martyn, then to Katrin. "M'lady." He looks down at his drinks, then up at them, though it's obvious he's mostly addressing Justin as the one he knows. "Just… uh, having some… ale," he offers innocently.
Justin takes a sip of his own ale and gives Veris a polite nod, "Don't let us keep you from enjoying your drinks, Veris. Though, you are welcome to join us, if you can keep from spilling them all over the Lady Katrin. She might not appreciate it." He looks amused at the awkwardness of the squire.
The Terrick lord adds to the other two, "Veris there is Ser Hardwicke's squire."
"Oh, ain't much in the world could keep me from that, m'Lord," Veris says with a big grin to Justin. The boy loves his drink. Probably too much for his own good. "And, uh…" He casts a quick glance over to the door, then shrugs. "If you've got the room, m'Lord, and the Lady the Ser don't mind me, I'd not mind that a bit. Better than drinking alone and that." He offers Martyn a grin as he raises his mugs in acknowledgement and pulls a chair over noisily with his foot. "I'm right careful, m'Lady - not a drop'll come near you, that's my word." He seats himself and eyes his ales with a mighty thirst, but doesn't touch them to his lips just yet.
To Katrin, Justin gives a nod with a smile, "Indeed he was. Ser Hardwicke was the last man standing against Ser Rutger whom I had heard joined the melee late. So it's likely that Ser Hardwicke could have won it, as well as becoming a champion of the Joust. He and Ser Kell tilted very well, though Ser Riordan finally unhorsed Ser Kell after /seven/ passes." Which is of course a most auspicious number of times to tilt, if you are even slightly religious. Justin adds more quietly in his baritone, "I missed most of the joust and much of the melee also, but what I saw of them, Ser Hardwicke made us proud." He pauses to take a pull from his own tankard.
"I arrived too late to see the joust," Katrin says with a frown. "Though I would have greatly enjoyed seeing it." She considers. "Even if he lost in the last moments, Lord Justin, Ser Hardwicke did very well. Haigh would have been proud to have such a man's loyalty. I am sure that Terrick feels the same way."
"He would have won the melee," Veris interjects, defending his knight. "Ser Hardwicke fought hardest and best." Then, remembering his company, he adds quietly, "At least, in my opinion. From what I could tell. M'Lord." The ale finally comes up, more so he can hide behind the mug than anything else, and he takes a conservative sip from it.
Justin does, it seems, get a little excited about the joust and melee and was keenly interested in them. Even if he did not participate. "Well, perhaps ere you depart we can see if Ser Martyn here, or Ser Kamron, might be willing to do a little tilting practice with me. I haven't practiced … well, since last year. I think my horse's leg should be mended enough for some light exercise any time now." The question may be more whether or not Martyn or Kamron are so well mended. Justin lifts a brow at the Mallister to see if he's game. Veris gainst a nod from Justin who apparently agrees with that assessement. But then, he's probably biased since Ser Hardwicke used to be his own arms teacher.
"I'm not sure if my wounds have healed enough, and I don't know much about Ser Kamron's health at the moment," Martyn says. After all, he returned later than the others from the tourney. "But if any of us is able, I'm certain we can get something done." A brief grin in the Lady's direction. "Otherwise, I fear you will have to return here for such an experience, Lady Katrin," he offers with a bit of a chuckle. Nodding once more at the part about Hardwicke. "I was hoping I could have challenged him for a bit longer, but Ser Aleister Charlton was a bit too much of a challenge…" Another sip of ale now.
Katrin's eyes brighten immediately at the notion of even a practice and she nods. "Of course I would only wish to see such a thing should the men be in good enough health for such a thing," she says warmly, passing a smile in Martyn's direction. "It would do no one any good to see such brave men injured even worse than they already have been. But perhaps if not this trip, Lord Justin, then as Ser Martyn states, I will simply have to return at a later point." She seems amused at this thought. "Though perhaps now I wonder if that is the entirety of the point," the teases of the Mallister knight.
Veris stays silent as the three go back and forth with ease; he's the odd one out at the table, after all. But he does seem happy that Justin agrees on his assessment of how the melee went. For the time being, he just keeps sipping away at his first ale at a good pace, though the mug appears to be resting on the table for less and less time between.
Martyn listens for the moment as he takes another sip from his ale, unable to hold back a grin as he hears Katrin's words. "Who knows, Lady Katrin. As you said earlier, nobody can grow if they are trapped in one place after all." It's spoken rather lightly as he nods a bit. Turning to look at Veris for a few moments, "For how long have you been Ser Hardwicke's squire?" he asks.
Katrin's lips quirk upwards and she chuckles. "Oh, for shame, now I have let my own words be used against me," she laments but does not seem overly upset about it. She tilts her head in Veris' direction, perhaps intrigued herself by the question Martyn poses.
Veris is caught off-guard by Martyn's question with a mouthful of ale. His brows shoot up as he points to himself - as if there could be anyone else he's talking to - and gulps down the ale to answer. But it goes down too quickly, making him cough and sputter a bit before he can respond, "Not yet a year, Ser, but must be gettin' on that point soon by now, I think. I was squired to Ser Jarod before that, but only for a short time, and Ser Kirin 'fore that." The last knight is mentions isn't one whose name is known to most.
Martyn is unable to hold back a grin at Katrin's words. "At least they aren't used against you in bad intent," he offers, with a smile. Turning to nod at Veris again, "You must have learned quite a bit during that time," he offers, before he adds, "I'm not sure if I've heard about Ser Kirin before," he offers.
Justin listens to Veris's reply, nursing his own ale along and due for a refill shortly. He nods to Martyn, "Of course. Perhaps another time. Either way, without a knight of my own to squire to, I needs must keep up arms practices where I can get them."
"Which might be the saving grace of it, Ser Martyn," Katrin replies. She considers Justin curiously. "Were you never squired as a child, Lord Justin?" she asks absently. "I remember so many youths at Broadmoor wanting to achieve knighthood and be squired to great men."
"Ser Kirin's… an older knight, Ser," Veris says to Martyn, 'older' obviously being a mask for 'ineffective' the way it's said. "Rural-type, out on the outskirts of the Roost, where my folk come from. And aye, I've been learnin' a-plenty, Ser, and tryin' to absorb it all. Ser Hardwicke means to make a knight of me even if he has to bash it through my thick skull." The squire sounds dubious as to whether or not that's a realistic goal for the Captain of the Guard. "I'd be happy to give you a body to beat on, m'Lord, if you're hurtin' for practice dummies. I haven't been gettin' in quite as much time actually wielding weapons as much as oilin' and sharpenin' 'em."
Finishing his ale, Justin lowers his tankard to the table, "I was sent as page when I was a boy, to Riverrun, Lady Katrin. And when I was deemed old enough, about 13 or so, I squired to Ser Haffrey Tully, of our Lord Paramount's household. He I think intended to knight me but he was killed by the Ironborn." He pauses a moment to hear the others. After a moment, Justin adds low to Katrin, "I originally wanted to be a tourney knight, in the hope of impressing my father. Ser Haffrey though wans't keen to waste time traveling to places like Kingsport, nor ransoming for armour and horse he would have had to have lent me, should I have lost."
Wait, what did Veris just say? That perks Justin's attention, "I might well take you up on that, Veris. Assuming Ser Hardwicke has no objection."
"My apologies, Lord Justin, if I touched upon a delicate subject," Katrin immediately speaks once Justin has fallen silent. "I would not mean to intrude on private matters. But you do have my condolences for never reaching that point of knighthood. Perhaps one day you may find a way to do so." She toys with a strand of hair that has fallen loose from her travel. She considers, green eyes narrowed slightly with her concentration. But it dies off and instead she looks back to the Terrick lord with her light smile. "While I remain in Terrick's Roost, Lord Justin, perhaps you could be so kind as to point me toward anything of interest so I might be able to offer my Lord father a full report once I have returned home."
Veris listens to Justin's recounting and Katrin's response with interest as he finishes his first ale and moves on to his second without a pause. "I don't see as to why he'd would have, m'Lord," he says, then thinks for a second with a frown. "An objection. Why he would have." E-nun-ci-ate. "I've matched up with some of th' other squires. Ser Jarod, too, when I first came here. 'sgood practice." He's already halfway down his second ale, and it's starting to slip through in his speech, words beginning to run together.
Martyn listens in quiet at the moment, sipping his ale as he listens, offering a bit of a smile as he listens.
And because she's probably not aware of it, Justin says, "The duties of a page included such things as helping the lady of the House, fetching and running errands, serving at table, learning to compose verse or to play an instrument, currying and care of horses and hawks, wrestling, as well as learning to dress and arm his lord. And later, as squire, to ride and vault a horse in tactics for war, use of bow, lance, sword and axe, even how to carve meat for the banquet table. Such as to break a deer, to lift a swan, to despoil a hen, unbrace a duck, or disfigure a peacock for proper serving. Even how to lay the napkin over my arm, just so." Justin makes a gesture as though he were awaiting his lord's and lady's pleasure at table, "There is a great deal more for a squire to learn than merely how to fight." No, perhaps she did not or Justin's refusing to let any delicacy of the subject subdue him today. Still, her words make him falter. "Well, there's time yet, Lady Katrin. Some men remain squires twice my age, and some others still never are knighted. I will earn mine in time, if it be the will of the Seven that I should do so."
Until then, another ale! Justin motions for his tankard to be refilled before he nods, "I can certainly do that, Lady Katrin. You should ride the coastline upon the bluffs overlooking the sea, then go down into the cove. It is a good place to picnic."
Katrin considers Justin's words and nods slowly. "It sounds like quite a thorough education, Lord Justin," she says with a smile. To the final part, she nods. "Perhaps if there is time and my brother's steward might spare a guardsman, I shall do just that, My Lord. I would very much like to see that."
From the way Veris quirks his face as Justin lists off all the pagely duties, it's clear that he never got anywhere near all that kind of education. But the squire's list gets a nod that goes on about three times as long as it needs to. That alcohol's going straight to his brain. "Cove's a good spot, m'Lady," he agrees with Justin. "He made me to swim in me trousers." That seeming non-sequitur delivered enthusiastically, he drains his remaining ale and stands, albeit shakily. "If you'll excuse me, m'Lord… m'Lady… Ser," he sways a bit with an overdone flourish, "I have a date with a horse needs punching." They're left to decipher what that means as the squire departs their delightful company.
