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Tez wanders through the unfamiliar marketplace, seeking out exciting new foods and drinks.

Cassio follows her hurriedly, distracted by the marketplace more than a little

Cassio "Uh, where are we going?"

Tez "Aha!" she exclaims, pleased. She veers off to the left and beams intently at the man selling.... meat on a stick. but THIS meat on a stick is covered in some sort of bright yellow sauce! "This looks exciting doesn't it?" She grins.

Cassio looks at the food and seller skeptically

Cassio "Meat on a stick?"

Tez "No, YELLOW meat on a stick."

Cassio quirks an eyebrow and concludes, "Oh."

Cassio "Wonder how it pairs with this pretty bland brandy."

Tez eyes the brandy, "We could always put some spices and things in it."

Cassio "I never knew you could cook."

Tez "I'm very surprising."

Cassio "Spiced brandy sounds terrific. I don't think I've ever had any or heard of it. Maybe use some mulling spices?"

Tez "Hmm yes... but we'll have to find something to light on fire to warm it up."

Tez "They get mad if you light the tables on fire though."

Cassio laughs throwing his head back, long hair flying, and then scratches his head while he studies Tez. He wonders if she is serious.

Cassio looks at the short line to the meat stick seller, "Won't be long now."

Tez scratches idly at one of her many scars, "Do you have money?"

Cassio smiles, "Of course. Its no big deal, I have you covered."

Tez grins. "Thanks." She shuffles forward with the line, and finally reaches the front. She orders three yellow sticks and looks over her shoulder at Cassio, "And whatever he's getting too." she finishes.

Cassio tacks on a couple more and pays for them

Tez weaves her way expertly through the crowd to an empty table.

Cassio follows as seems to be the typical case these days, not too different from his scholar schooling actually

Tez sits and contemplates her meatstick. "What do you think it tastes like?" she asks him very seriously

Cassio sits opposite and nibbles a little bit

Cassio "It reminds me of this curry I had in Kaitaine once, at my cousins."

Tez "Curry?"

Cassio "Uh, I guess that means gravy, but its a spicy and intensely flavored sauce from some other land."

Tez "Do you have curry a lot in Kaitaine?"

Tez pokes her tongue out and licks the sauce.

Cassio "Just that one time. We hosted a special cook for some occasion or another."

Cassio smiles a dreamy smile as he thinks of that night long ago

Tez tries a bigger bite. "Hmm. That must have been some party."

Cassio "Yes. beat bigger smile Yes it was. Lucio was the life of the party, but that was the usual I suppose."

Tez "Who's Lucio?"

Cassio "Oh, thats my cousin. He is a noble of Kaitaine. Its pretty much by his means that I live these days."

Cassio "He is a great guy. Really caring, skilled, and true."

Tez "AND he's a noble? Are you sure?"

Cassio nods

Cassio "Why do you ask?"

Tez "Most nobles..." she shrugs a bit. "The parties are nice."

Cassio "Oh, you are talking about noble rot? Yes, most are rather um, corrupt and pitiful."

Cassio frowns

Cassio "But my relatives are decent folk, which also explains why they never got that powerful."

Cassio "And yes, the parties are very nice."

Cassio smiles

Tez "Ah." She nods thoughtfully. "I thought mine were nice too."

Cassio "Your relatives?"

Cassio takes a moment to wolf down his stick, savoring the spiced yellow curry sauce and charred... whatever it is.

Tez nods, shrugs, and has another bite.

Cassio "You have any family you like?"

Tez "Uh."

Tez "I have an uncle that thinks I'm special."

Cassio "Well that is something."

Cassio "Should we get some more meat... sticks for the others?"

Tez looks down at her fingers for a moment and when she looks up again, her expression is cold. Then she blinks and smiles. "Yes. The others. My friends will be hungry."

Cassio thinks Tez is odder and odder, but is unsure how to phrase a question about that- he ends up shrugging.

Cassio eats is other meat stick in the moment of silence, but drops part of it and sighs

Cassio picks up the dirty piece and contemplates cleaning it off, but it would lose the sauce...

Tez tears her second stick apart with an odd sort of precision and offers half to Cassio.

Cassio drops the dirty piece and takes it, "Thanks."

Cassio returns to a familiar subject, "So, have you known Chimrea long?"

Tez "Since I moved to Green Lake."

Tez "I guess she's a shaman."

Tez "Do you love her too?"

Cassio spits out a piece of meat, "What?"

Cassio "Well she is cute, and she is very interesting, but I don't know about all that."

Tez shrugs a little. "Everyone does."

Cassio studies Tez for some kind of expression

Cassio "Its not like I know her, or you. Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Cassio "I personally think its lust at first sight. Love takes longer."

Cassio cleans off a bit of the dirty table, unsure if he like this rather unkept marketplace

Tez looks back at Cassio, looking more or less confused, her eyes flickering somewhere between happiness and resentment. "Lust isn't enough, but it's good sometimes. It doesn't make people stay."

Cassio "Its only the start, yes. Of something better."

Cassio tries to stifle a bit of his idealism, which often gets out of control

Tez "So you want to sleep with her?"

Cassio looks flustered

Cassio "I'm not sure really. I'm not the kind to sleep around, or at least, not anymore."

Tez "You used to?"

Cassio almost turns red and looks down, there was a period in my early schooling

Tez grins. "Why did you stop?"

Cassio "It wasn't getting me what I wanted. As I learned from the last girl."

Cassio frowns just a bit and focuses again on cleaning a small part of the table

Tez "What DO you want?"

Cassio "I don't know, but that wasn't it."

Cassio "If more people knew what they wanted I wonder what the world would be like."

Tez "Depends on if whoever they wanted it from wanted to give it to them."

Cassio "I mean, I want to be a hero. A real one, a moral one, but I'm not sure if that is really, pause really what I want deep down."

Cassio laughs

Cassio "I must sound crazy."

Tez finds that immensely funny for some reason.

Cassio listens to the conversation of some passing ladies for a second, talking about one of their husbands

Cassio nods, "A wife. That would be something. Perhaps a family."

Cassio "But this first."

Tez "I don't know if you can have adventures and a family at the same time." She frowns down at herself.

Cassio lays his stolen sword on the table

Tez looks up and eyes the sword. "This is yours?"

Cassio nods to Tex

Cassio "yes"

Cassio "Well, I kind of borrowed it from the collection of my scholar mentor."

Cassio adds just a little emphasis to 'borrowed'

Tez runs her finger along the edge, seeming indifferent to the bright red trail she leaves behind. "A scholar and a borrower?" She laughs. "I used to borrow things for a living."

Cassio smiles widely, "Borrowing can be dangerous."

Cassio "I'm sure that my mentor wants this back. I hope to avoid him until... well, forever."

Cassio moves the handle so the gems sparkle in the sun's rays

Tez "Sometimes things bite." she says conspiratorially. "If your mentor wants it back, I will help you keep it. If you want."

Cassio "Anyway, its a legendary weapon. Once employed by a great hero long ago."

Cassio "Why would you do that?"

Tez "I like you."

Cassio once again looks at Tez skeptically, he doesn't quite get her

Cassio "Well I'm only borrowing it. Gods know if I'm even worthy to carry it, let alone brandish it in battle."

Tez "Do you know how to use it?"

Cassio nods

Cassio "I was trained, but never really excelled."

Cassio "The pen was my weapon of choice it seems."

Cassio picks it back up and studies it, "I only know its seem much goblin blood."

Tez "Well, being a hero is in the blood. Just sometimes you have to borrow some."

Cassio (*seen)

Tez "Oh, there will be lots of goblins. Agnes says they're called Murlogi though."

Cassio "Yes, thats the term alright."

Tez "She grew up there."

Cassio "I'm still a bit fuzzy on this Agnes character. Is she alive or dead?"

Tez shrugs eloquently. "Both I guess."

Cassio "That is amazing. How long can she exist like that?"

Cassio "She could be immortal."

Tez "I... don't know?"

Cassio "Its interesting though no?"

Cassio perks up

Cassio "So whats next? After we get some meat for the others, maybe find some mulling spices?"

Tez "Oh, right, spices. Yes, let's do that. We'll get the meat on our way back to camp."

Cassio nods and gets up

Tez gets up too and gestures grandly for him to lead the way.

Cassio bows just a bit and takes the lead through the market

Cassio leads the way through the market

Tez trails after him, staring around at the many colorful booths

Cassio "So, were you a successful borrower?"

Tez giggles a little. "Kinda. Mostly I was the decoy."

Cassio leads the way to small booth

Cassio studies it, no line and there is a little lady with many boxes of spices... or something

Cassio "Hello."

Spice Lady "Hello there young man! What can I do for you?"

Cassio "I'd like some uh, mulling spices?"

Cassio "For brandy."

Cassio adds the last casually as he can

Spice Lady squints at him for a moment. "For brandy, eh? I...see. Ah yes, yes. What you want is some nice warming spices, a bit of cinnamon, hmmm. How much are you going to make?"

Cassio "A bottle or two, like so hefts bottles"

Spice Lady calculates things in her head, then quickly measures out two packets of spices, mixing and sifting. "Here you are, sir." She quotes a fairly reasonable price. "Do let me know how it turns out!"

Cassio "Thanks much."

Cassio pays the money

Cassio takes the packets

Cassio smiles at Tez and winks at the lady, "I surely will let you know!"

Spice Lady tucks the money away and considers this new market thoughtfully.

Tez "Those smell good."

Cassio nods, "So how about you lead the way to some wood?"

Tez "Well, I saw a dead tree a few minutes out of town."

Cassio "Sounds like a plan, besides I need a break from all these people."

Cassio waves his hand at the crowds casually

Tez "They're loud," she agrees, and weaves back out of the market, pausing to buy some more meat, which she wraps up in a neat bundle before proceeding out of town.

Cassio follows

Tez follows the path back to the dead tree she'd seen as the sun begins to set. Red-gold light spills through the forest, in a moment of beauty. Tez starts to hack off the larger branches from the trunk. "Can you clear a firepit, Cassio?"

Cassio "Sure"

Cassio does so

Tez makes a neat pile in the center, balancing the logs on top of eachother, and shaving some bark into tinder.

Tez thinks for a bit, then fetches some large, green branches as well, which she more or less forms into a rack over the fire logs. "Hm. That should work."

Cassio nods

Cassio uses some flint and steel to light it

Tez sighs and sits back against a nearby tree, stretching her arms. "This better be good."

Cassio "Oh, I'm sure it will be. And by sure I mean, I have no idea."

Cassio lays next to her, but not too close

Tez chuckles. "Well in that case, I can hardly wait."

Tez watches the edge of the sun descend beyond the treeline, black silhouetted against red. The forest is quiet, most sane animals stay away from fire after all.

Cassio just kind of half-snoozes, waiting or the brandy it get just right

Tez contemplates how exactly to get the brandy out of the fire.

Cassio grabs a nearby stick and fetches the pot out of the fire readily, almost without thinking

Cassio sets it nearby to cool

Tez smiles at her companion. "It smells good."

Tez dips her cup into the pot and blows on it to cool, resuming her spot at the old Oak.

Cassio follows suit

Tez takes a sip and sighs. "Not bad at all."

Cassio sips, "A little heavy on the cinnamon, but it will do."

Tez cocks her head to the side "Did you hear that?" She asks, staring at the bushes to their right.

Cassio "Nope. Hear what?"

Tez draws her sword and rises to a crouch, "Something in the bushes," she replies quietly. She circles around to the left.

Cassio stays where he is, puts down the drink and places his hand on his sword

Tez moves akwardly, feeling ungainly and off-balance. But still with the grace of a fighter. After a tense moment, she just smiles and straightens. "Ah, you need not worry." A long, pale shape slithers slowly out of the bushes.

Cassio "Oh... great. snake."

Cassio scowls a bit, watching it. "Never been a fan."

Tez crouches down again, and the creature's long tongue flickers over her arm. She reaches out and strokes the scales of its head, and it moves forward, twining itself around her arm. "They are misunderstood. People think they're evil, but they're not," she says darkly.

Cassio "I wasn't so much assigning them evil as a trait, but instead that they just make my skin crawl."

Cassio tries to smile but fails

Tez "Why?" She sheathes her sword and retreats to the tree. The serpent has by this time made its way all the way up her arm and around to the other side.

Cassio "Dunno, just cause."

Tez shakes her head a little and sips her spiced brandy, "I see."

Cassio shrugs

Cassio grabs his drink again and takes a large gulp

Tez follows suit, though she drains her cup more deliberately.

Tez "I could ask him to leave."

Cassio "ask him?"

Cassio "The snake?"

Tez "Of course, who else?"

Cassio "Do you talk to snakes often?"

Tez half smiles. "Recently."

Cassio "Thats neat."

Tez laughs. "Thanks, I guess." The snake moves down off her shoulders and rests, coiled, on her swollen stomach.

Tez "Tell me more about your mentor."

Cassio lays back

Cassio "Antonio is one of the great scholars of Kaitaine. He has filled nearly a library with his histories."

Cassio "But, all in all, a boring man."

Tez "How does he know what to write?"

Cassio "He studies archives, consults those who knew those you were there, and so on."

Tez "Where did he get a sword?"

Cassio "He has money, and sometimes he gets gifts. He has a large collection of artifacts."

Tez "Ahh. He was not a hero then?"

Cassio "Nope"

Tez "Well then it's a good thing you borrowed it."

Cassio smiles

Cassio "That is one way to look at it"