The Tea Room

A short woman with long, black hair tied into a single braid that reached down to her ankles sat with Rosetta, also staying entertained with her tea. Her eyes closed, she did her best to ignore everything that the witch Ryas was doing. It wasn't too hard, she had to deal with eccentric people all the time. Auza preferred to have a restful experience on her time off. After all these years, she finally took Veign's advice and rested.

Auza sat near to Rosetta, but she didn't say anything. There was nothing to talk about other than what jobs they were doing. Since this was time away from jobs, it would be tiresome to think about it. She merely drank her tea, sip by sip.

On the other side of the room, Lily and a few others were hanging around, having arm wrestling contests. Currently, Lily was the reigning champ, so she got the most comfortable seat. Purple hair and eyes glittered in the light, and a huge grin spread across her face as her next opponent took the other seat. It was Ariel, the drinking champion in the group. Without a word, they clasped hands and awaited the referee to call the game, though they were already beginning to push on each other.

"You scared?" Ariel taunted, grinning.

"Bring it on, sister," Lily countered. The two rangers glared sparks at each other, their competitive sides taking over as the ref started their match. Both archers used all the strength they could muster, and the fight seemed to last forever, but eventually the reigning champ, Lily, had her hand slammed down on the table.

Ariel stood up immediately, her hands up in the air with a huge grin on her face. "Who's the better ranger now, little girl!?"

Adriane had been sitting quietly, enjoying her tea by herself, until Ryas began throwing anything and everything in the Tea Room. She bristled very visibly at the mess it was making and was quick to stand up and rectify the items closest to her. "I really wish you wouldn't throw things," she voiced as she tried to close the gap between her and Ryas. It was a dangerous movement, but one she felt necessary nonetheless. When something very nearly hit her in the process her hands clenched into balls around her dress. "The furniture is quite expensive." she stated with a frown, her accent very noticeable as she finally stood within arms reach of Ryas. This couldn't end well for the maid.

Meanwhile, Luxs sat alongside Auza and Rosetta, sipping a very strange looking drink, a deep indigo in hue with a strange thickness similar to cream. She watched the fight going on between the highstrung witch and Syfen with quiet interest. Her black eyes focused on the witch for only a moment before flitting over to those at her table. "Perhaps she should try an herbal remedy?" she asked quietly. "It might bring down that high blood pressure and ease that nasty temper." she added, her gaze flitting back over to the witch. She blinked as the maid made her way over to the magic-user, when her eyes opened again they were glowing white. "May the Fates take some pity..." she murmured as her eyes returned to their normal shade.

A rather shirtless man sat at the bar with his back to everyone, studiously glaring into his shot glass to avoid looking at the blonde sitting next to him. The other was smiling at him, basically beaming happiness at him by grin alone. Though the blonde man's body was facing the room, neither of them seemed to pay any attention to the commotion going on.

"Oh come on, Tannas. It can't be that bad." His right arm was pressed up against the sullen elementalist, where he leaned closer.

"Yes, yes it can." Tannas replied darkly, earning an unnoticed frown from the other.

The man brightened soon enough, leaning even closer. "Tannas, love. You can't tell me you didn't enjoy it." He was practically nosing into the man's hair by now, smile trading wattage in exchange for more personal warmth.

Tannas let loose a sigh, setting the glass down with a clinking sound. He was never going to finish it at this rate. "Yes, Lucan, I did. I was having so much goddamn fun before we started getting killed and captured by pirates." The mage flicked his deep brown eyes to Lucan's violet ones, scowl ever present. The thief exhaled, losing his smile for a moment and sat back against the bar's counter, gaze trained on his mage. The two kept up the eyesex staring contest for awhile, until finally Lucan gave in.

"You need to drink more."

"That's exactly what I was trying to do, before you sidled up and started trying to seduce me."

Lucan's million watt grin turned up again. "Oh I haven't started yet."

Tannas turned back to the bar, scowling and grumbling curses.

"Up up up."

Adriane had immediately flinched when Ryas swung at her, but it seemed that someone else had other plans. The chair in the witch's hands immediately swung the other way and was wrenched from her anger-driven grip by an invisible force. The maid, who had shut her eyes tightly together barely peaked, a sigh of relief flooding from her as she noticed Chris standing in the entrance to the Tea Room.

"All's fair in revenge, but hit the person who deserves it." the psychic said, lowering the chair next to a table which she proceeded to stroll over to and sit down at. Her gaze fell upon the maid, who foolishly remained standing within Ryas' range. "If I were you," she began, eyes drifting to a plate of cookies on the table, "I'd move before Madame Fussy Briches there finds something else to take your head off with." She grabbed a small butter cookie from the tray and took an almost unnoticeable bite of it, deciding it best to ignore whatever would come as a result of her tampering with the witch's wrath.

Adriane was quick to move back to her tea and did her best to appear as invisible as possible. She failed miserably.

"Seems the Fates are kind." Luxs mused, taking another sip of her drink.

So it seemed everything would be okay. The psychic was munching on her cookie, the maid nervously drank her tea, and the soothsayer mused silently over the fact that her vision had been wrong.

Blissfully unaware, or rather just able to easily ignore the commotion, a young girl with indigo colored hair sat at a table looking at the pink drink that sat a mere six inches away. Someone whom she did not know had just given it to her randomly and she felt unsure as to whether or not to drink from it. There was no telling what was in the plastic cup, all she knew was that it was most definitely a liquid and it had three ice cubes floating harmlessly inside. Still though, it was a most strange shade of pink, and she didn't know how she felt about it all.

"..."

"Such barbaric behavior," Auza murmured quietly into her tea, a single black eye opened just enough to glance at the witch across the room. "Really, a mage must control her emotions to control the balance of magic." From sight, Auza could tell a mage from a warrior. It was something that came from years of training and hunting demons. Such work involved being highly in-tune with the flow of mana in the world, and the disruptions within. Veign was especially good at identifying demons disguised as men.

Auza glanced over at Rosetta, who seemed almost...disappointed that a fight didn't break out. Was it something that she enjoyed to see? People hitting each other and fighting to what seemed to no end? Well, it was really none of her business, and Auza herself had a violent streak. Though now she could better control her behavior. She had to, if she wished to keep Lohorn, the demon of flame that killed Veign, locked away in Eternia.

Another presence shuffled towards the table and slumped into a nearby chair, next to Auza. When she glanced over, she saw a very tired-looking girl with brown hair and eyes, and a white fur cape that covered her back. But what Auza saw in the girl was something different from the rest of those within the tea room.

This was no human.

Sensing someone's attention that wasn't Tannas', Lucan peered at the rest of the room, briefly settling on a pair of red eyes. A sudden twinkle flashed in his eyes as he turned to leer at Tannas and something in his body language changed. The thief subtly angled towards the other man, head tipped downward so that his violet eyes would be looking up at him through his lashes, and there was a lascivious curl to his mouth. The change was hardly different from how he'd been acting but ten seconds ago, but its intensity was certainly felt by Tannas. The elementalist successfully ignored Lucan for all of two seconds.

When Tannas turned his head, expression set so as not give anything away, his gaze locked to the blonde's. "What?" Inwardly, he cringed. He'd meant to sound much more reproachful, instead his voice came out low and quiet.

Lucan pushed further into his personal space, torso turning more towards him. To him, the signs of the mage's impending panic were quite clear. The way he held himself stiffly and closed off, anticipating something, even his brown eyes going a little darker. He certainly had his attention. So Lucan parted his lips slightly, watching Tannas' eyes dart to them, and ran his tongue across the bottom. The mage stilled perceptibly and Lucan leaned a little closer, mere inches from Tannas' face.

"We have a spectator." He breathed. On the inside, he was bursting with glee, knowing that to someone not privy to this conversation it would look like he just laid down some heavy flirtation. Tannas was immediately on to him and his set expression turned back into a scowl in record time, darkened eyes adding to the look in Lucan's opinion.

"You're an asshole." Tannas stated bluntly, narrowed brows and twisted mouth belying his flat tone. Of course Lucan would play into a voyeur, most especially in public. Lucan only flashed him another smile, causing his eyes to drift there again. He hardly realized his upper body was turned towards the thief. "You're infuriating."

"You like it." Lucan's voice dropped a few notes lower, watching Tannas unconsciously slant forward, a faint red lightly dusting across the mage's nose.

Tannas could feel it, the telltale signs of excitement beginning to course through him. His heart sped up and his face warmed just so. Lucan was playing him, he knew it, but damn if he didn't care. It made it all the worse that Lucan knew he liked it. His own voice lowered with a mixture of indignation and heat. "You drive me insane."

The thief gave a quiet chuckle. Victory was at hand. "You can't get enough." Tannas' breath hitched and the faint blush spread across the top of his cheeks. Just a little more. Lucan slipped his fingers up the brunet's forearm, skimming just enough to cause tingles, and that was all it took. The mage gave up all hope of trying to be at least discreet in a public place and met Lucan in a devouring kiss, grabbing the man by the front of his shirt to tug him forward. They moved well in sync, Lucan's free hand going to the other's face and sliding into his hair as Tannas gripped the arm holding his. The mage's mind slowed down for a second, feeling Lucan's wet tongue slip into his mouth and lick inside teasingly, velvet sensation pulling a quiet moan from him. The blonde retreated, but not before Tannas bit down on his bottom lip in retaliation - something he immediately regretted as Lucan cried out with a loud groan. Surely everyone heard that.

They both pulled away, and Lucan grinned widely, white teeth showing as he reveled in their shared breaths. A scant inch from Lucan, Tannas growled, "I hate you."

The thief settled his head on Tannas's forehead. "I love you too, dear." Victory!

The sound of a groan drove the indigonette's attention towards the two men at the bar. She tilted her head to the side and stood, abandoning the unknown pink drink on the table. "Those are the same sounds James and Anna make sometimes..." she said aloud, not particularly caring if anyone heard her. She moved over in their direction, but did not interrupt their moment, if it could be called that. Mostly, through no conscious recognition of her own, she felt going over to them and embarrassing them further would not lead to a pleasant situation for herself.

So she sat behind some potted plants, trying to watch them without being noticed.

Chris raised an eyebrow over towards the bar. "I think somebody's had enough to drink." she murmured, chuckling mentally when she heard Terra make her declaration. She shook her head slightly and grabbed another cookie.

Adriane had been to busy worrying for her life to really notice the groan, but when Heart asked Lucan and Tannas if they would have sex on the counter by her request, she choked on her tea. She proceeded to hack, gasping for air and trying to run the question over again in her head to make sure she heard what she had. When she finally calmed down enough that her pulse returned to a normal rate, she cast a very shocked look in the mens' direction. "That's best reserved for behind closed doors." she reminded reproachfully in exceedingly thick british.

"Sex?" Now Terra was even more confused. Sure she had heard James and Anna make similar sounds when they kissed (or 'swapped spit' as Jesse had put it), but they had never explained anything past that. The way she noticed the maid react made her curious. Was it a bad thing to have sex? What was it anyway? Returning her head to its normal position on her body, she stood up and approached the girl who had inquired about the couple's lovemaking in public. She did not say anything, but she was far too curious to not get a good look if they did perchance happen to 'have sex' in the Tea Room.

Chris laughed when she heard Heart's question. "Someone knows more than they probably should." she chuckled, taking yet another cookie from the tray. The outburst certainly became rather interesting in the short amount of time it had to escalate. It amused her to no end. Not to mention it drove Ryas crazy, as the psychic had noted when the witch exclaimed that she had not heard anything. That made this otherwise awkward situation all the more pleasurable.

Alexandria ignored the chaos going on on the other side of the room–now was not the time for her to indulge in insanity; she got enough of that from her travels. She carried two cups of tea, one small and one immensely large, on an enormous tray. She seated herself at a relatively large table, pushing the larger cup (it was more like a bowl really) in the direction of what would appear to be a large stuffed tiger however. This resulted in a strange look from one of two men nearby, but she ignored his estranged glance. "Just the way you like it Zhao," the young girl murmured with a small smile.

"Oh god." Tannas grumbled and quickly hid his face between Lucan's neck and shoulder, feeling his face about to turn very red. Lucan however smiled at the girl, the picture of innocence. (HAHAHA--cough--er hm . .) This had turned out better than he'd hoped, garnering reactions from almost the whole room. He let the conversation carry on a bit before he replied.

"I'm afraid not." He chuckled, putting an arm around the elementalist. "I've already tried to get him to do that, several times. Haven't been quite successful yet." His tone rose near the end, turning contemplative his tapped his chin thoughtfully. Tannas promptly added his opinion by punching him in the gut, not enough to really hurt, but getting his point across. "Oof! Ow, haha." His sounds of pain were entirely fake. The thief turned and pressed a teasing kiss into Tannas' hair then slipped off his barstool. "I think we'll be leaving, have to apologise."

The mage glanced at the other's eyes, noting the twinkle, and narrowed his own. "This is all your fault."

"I know, it's great. Are you ready to go?" Lucan turned up the brightness in his smile. "Or would you rather stay and drink?"

"How about you leave and I stay and drink?" At least that way he could try and scrub this catastrophe from his brain with copious amounts of alcohol, and simultaneously not be duped into any other 'distractions.' Lucan only turned his head to the left, gaze still on Tannas with that infuriating smile. He moved in what Tannas could only describe as a sashay and leaned in the mage's space again, planting a lingering kiss on him. As soon as he parted, Lucan's image wavered in an almost purple haze before disappearing completely. Tannas stared after him for a few long seconds, then finally went back to his lonely shot glass full of something alcoholic, hoping no one noticed the small smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

From where he sat, Zhao had a pretty good view of the room, resting near a wall practically motionless. The commotion with the men at the bar piqued his interest for a few passing moments, but he deigned not to comment. But when the skinny girl approached with a large container of steaming tea, he sat up and stretched languidly, like the great big feline he was. He smiled appreciatively and dipped his head to the bowl, when someone off to his side suddenly exclaimed, "Holy fuck, that thing's real?!" The white tiger turned his head to see another girl sitting near him, a now silent guitar held in her hands.

Up until this point, Jesse had been ignoring everyone in favor of quietly playing the melody to Nothing Else Matters on this kickass guitar that had just been sitting there. From where she sat, the big tiger had looked like some kind of extravagant (and rather tacky) decoration. But, the damn thing was real. When it spoke, her jaw dropped further.

"Yes, I'm sure you'll find I'm quite real." He answered flatly, edge in his voice speaking of great annoyance for this momentary interruption. He spared it no further comment and went back to his tea.

Jesse soon snapped her jaw shut, deciding to try and find an appropriate song for meeting a huge freaking tiger - that talked. It didn't take long for her to grin and start playing Eye of the Tiger.

Tannas and Zhaoyang both looked away from their respective drinks as a large fraction of the room vacated the premises. Their eyes met across the room, each trading mutually confused looks, stranger to stranger. The shift in atmosphere was almost tangible to the both of them, sensitive to flux and flow of energy as they were. Jesse was perhaps too caught up in her guitar to really care. When the black hole appeared, Tannas' eyes widened and he gripped his glass harshly, posture stiffening by learned instinct from too many encounters with unknown threats. Zhao, in almost exact contrast, appeared bored. His tail flicked to one side then the other, considering the female if only because of the reaction she'd caused the others. The Star decided once more that he simply didn't care and returned to his tea. If she proved to be a problem, he's consider removing her.

Tannas, on the other hand, kept his eyes on the woman. For so many people to have reacted to her that way, obviously she was someone very powerful, or perhaps very evil. Probably both. He knocked back his drink in one gulp, now needing it for a different purpose. 'I'm going to die. Again.'

Adriane's anger, Chris' amusement, and Luxs' musing came to a swift end as the vortex opened up. All three decided it best to high tail it out of the Tea Room and were able to make it out just as the woman stepped out of the black hole. It was no sooner that she had that Alexandria shifted uncomfortably, moving a tad closer to Zhao, taking a hold of her tea. She took a small sip and tried her best to maintain the stoic look she usually held.

Terra, however, remained positioned near Tannas at the bar. The sudden evacuation did not seem to phase her, rather it intrigued her as most things had so far. Her head tilted to the side when the woman's head suddenly snapped around and she looked as if she were going to hug Rosetta. That was a unique feature. "Hmm..." the girl inquired inwardly as she strolled casually over to her. She remained quiet for quite some time, simply staring, before a small smile appeared on her face and she offered a hand to the woman. "Hello." she said with not the slightest bit of hesitation in her voice.

The men, one of whom had been watching Alexandria and Zhao, turned their attention to the woman and sat silent. They stared intently, wondering just who she was and why so many would vacate the room because she entered.

Terra blinked. The laughter didn't bother her in any fashion, but she got the feeling that laughing wasn't a normal thing to do when greeted. Or maybe she was at fault? Her brow furrowed for a moment only to unknit itself a moment later. Her eyes widened almost instantly. "Would you like some to drink? Or maybe something to eat?" How could she possible forget her manners? Her friends had worked hard to instill some sort of them in her and it was very rude to just stare, even if that was the only thing the woman did. She smiled. "I'm Terra, by the way."

The man that had stared at Alexandria prior to the woman's entrance shuddered, shifting his glance away from the woman. "What a freak!" he thought, reaching down to take a cookie from the platter in front of him. Just as he was about to take a bite, though, the man next to pulled it away. "Excuse me?" Nic muttered, nostrils flaring slightly in irritation.

"That's your fifth one," the man responded, his gaze still locked on the woman.

"So?"

"You haven't touched your tea."

"It's too hot."

"You've had it twenty minutes."

"I don't want it."

"Drink it." The mage rolled his eyes and reached for another cookie. "Nic." His hand moved to the tea, but without even touching it he knew it was cold. Still he picked it up and took a sip, mentally frowning at the improper temperature. He started to get up, but Cage held him back down. "Should have had it while it was hot."

Nic grimaced, returning to his position in the gambler's arm.