Kai moaned as he melted against the chair he sat in.
"Uhh..."
"What?" He cracked an eye open to see Helena looking embarrassed, which surprised him as he had the impression she wasn't the type to easily feel flustered.
"That was... suggestive."
Kai patted his stomach in satisfaction. "Well... I didn't know how FUCKING HUNGRY I was until I finally had food in front of me."
"But... it was just hard bread and a block of cheese..." Layla questioned.
"Wrong! There was also... an apple!" Kai nodded excitedly while the others looked at him, speechless.
"Well Michael... how does that... taste?"
Pedro has a doubtful expression as he looked at the chunk of ore with crystals throughout, apparently it was a mixture of iron sand and mana crystal which was good for feeding mana-based life, like an automaton was.
Michael could keep himself going by generating his own mana, but apparently the process of generating his own would actually become weaker over time if he didn't shut down, or "rest", and absorb an outside source of mana and materials, or "eat".
Hamish also explained that the others would also lose some efficiency in regenerating mana as time passed without food or sleep, though he assured them at higher class levels they'd be able to last longer and longer without needing food and rest to help reinvigorate their soul.
Michael tilted his head as he studied the magic ore that had lost its luster and become some kind of regular metal, like iron or steel, and the crystals of magic had disappeared as he absorbed it. "Kinda sweet actually? Like a sugar candy that melts in your mouth slowly..."
The others exchanged looks, and Helena spoke. "Makes sense, it's something you 'eat' over time, much like a candy melting slowly in your mouth."
Layla stretched, arms outstretched above her head with the fingers interlocked, and she groaned. "Urgh..." she hopped onto her feet from her chair as she swung her arms loosely.
"Should we head down?" Xandra asked, sitting calmly while observing everyone gaining a sudden burst of energy after finally eating.
"Yeah, Hamish said they'd have some songs going on in the hall most nights and a few parties would bring some drinks, maybe we should go and have fun!" Kai stood up excitedly.
Pedro frowned. "I didn't take you for the drinking type..."
"Oh I'm not, alcohol tastes awful to me. I just think it's a good idea to relax with the other adventurers and get situated, y'know? It'll be easier to live here if we don't alienate ourselves." Kai reaches a finger over towards Pedro's nose-
Pedro smacked the hand away. "You are NOT booping me.
Kai sighed, turned away... and suddenly lurched back with a hand extending-!
"SMACK!" "No!"
Pedro smacked it away again and threw himself from the chair to avoid Kai's follow up, and the others stared in almost-laughing tears as the foxkin chased the parrotkin around trying to boop his nose!
"Okay, okay, enough boys." Helena rolled her eyes as she got up. "Let's get going."
She turned to the door... and s small little finger with brown fur on it booped her nose.
She looked down at Layla who giggled. "Got you!"
So it was, that downstairs, all the adventurers were drinking and a bard was singing, and a few of the otherworlder parties were sitting around or talking... when they all heard a high pitched screaming, the kind that only girls made when they were having fun.
And then they saw a small batkin rush out of the door and run through the crowd, chased by a summer fae.
"GET BACK HERE AND LET ME BOOP YOUR NOSE YOU TINY FRUITBAT!"
"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" Layla stuck out her tongue as she jumped onto a table and ran across it before leaping off, the table between her and Helena.
Helena hesitates before running around the table, and the many parties began laughing their asses off!
Nick exchanged glances with the owlkin, smiles twitching at the corner's of their lips while the male tiefling raised an eyebrow. "Women truly are useless except for entertainment-"
And then the parrotkin came running out with a foxkin following him, and everyone felt a slight déjà vu.
The owlkin strangled a laugh trying to get out of his throat as the tiefling glowered. "Hard to be sexist when both genders are acting ridiculous?" He asked with a false politeness, leading the red tiefling to glare at him.
The elf druid rolled his eyes. "They're acting like immature children."
Xandra and Michael entered through the doors, looking at the chaotic party as their teammates ran about like headless chickens.
Michael spoke quietly so only Xandra could hear. "It's good they can enjoy themselves... but we need responsible and serious people in this party to survive. These adventurers... they all look like they're going wild. Is it really okay? Can they survive when they're acting so willfully?"
Xandra shook her head. "You don't understand the mentality of those who fight every day."
Michael turned his head, his gears clicking slightly. "Explain?"
"A soldier holds his mentality together in responsibility as he faces death, but when they have time to relax, you'll never find people who make more dirty jokes and act more silly. It's because it's a release Michael."
Xandra turned to look at him, her eyes dark with a kind of hidden sorrow. "Let them have their fun, they need it to face the dangers of tomorrow. Without this time to relax and let loose, their minds would snap like a brittle blade put under too much pressure."
Michael nodded after a moment. "Very well... it's important to have fun when we can, is that it?"
"Yes, and it helps us grow closer, as a team. Don't you agree, Kai?"
Xandra turned and Michael started as they both found the foxkin standing next to them calmly, his chests still heaving a bit from running so much, the chaotic mess of a celebration by the adventurers of their new members and the fact they have lived another day still ongoing before them.
Kai smiled as he turned slightly. "Why else do you think I started this?"
Michael paused. Indeed... Kai was the one who began the mischief that swallowed up their party into this chase and chaos, and brought them all downstairs in high spirits.
"It's important to make them relax, especially a serious guy like Pedro, a nervous girl like Layla, and a 'proper lady' like Helena. They need humor and joy to help support them with trust and friendship for when things inevitably get tougher." Kai smiled, looking out over the crowd.
"Very well... Party Leader." Xandra spike drily, and Kai shot her a surprised look.
"Leader? No I..." he trailed off, and his mouth eventually shut as he silently accepted.
"Very well. As your leader, I hereby order you two to go have fun!"
Xandra rolled her eyes and began to walk forward with her large frame, penetrating through the crowd until suddenly she stood right before Layla's path, and grabbed her up in a bear hug!
"Helena! I got her!"
Layla struggled fiercely as the surrounding adventurers laughed, Helena rushing up excitedly! "No fair! This is a two-on-one!" Layla cried out!
Helena jumped!
And Xandra let go of Layla at the last second, who's arms unfolded into her wings to flap down and Air Dodge in a burst of speed away!
Helena gave a helpless smile to the orcess who had relented at the last second, before turning to chase the batkin who'd folded her wings back into arms again as she ran.
Michael laughed as he watched this, before shrugging to Kai. "I dunno what I should do."
Kai snorted. "Just do anything man, have fun and relax. Go chase Pedro maybe, he's hiding somewhere from me, parrot bastard."
Michael chuckled with his echo as he began to move through the crowd as well, and Kai looked around, his eyes settling on Nick's group, and his pupils narrowed with his smile, which looked innocent, but carried an air of mockery.
'Ah Nick... you're keeping your party sharp and focused, but you're also making the see all this as "childish" behavior. The other adventurers won't like your party as much if you act all high and mighty... then again you'll probably have the strength to not worry about all that soon enough I'd guess.'
Kai shrugged, turning to go back into the crowd. 'Careful though... those who think themselves superior to the "barbaric" people around them often have the most fragile mentality when it comes to battle and those people are stronger or prove them wrong. Pride goeth before the fall.'
He jumped back into the sea of rowdy drinkers and people, and began hunting for Pedro.
~ ~ ~
It was 20 minutes later when a bard came up to a small stage at the corner, far left from the entrance to the Association, and began to prepare his lute to play to the 70-90 something people, which could have been more except some otherworlder parties had decided to stay in their rooms, uninterested in "mingling with the natives".
"We are adventurers, our blades shine true.
We are adventurers, we fight, it's what we do.
We are brave, we are strong, we are the front of the fight!"
He spoke these opening lines, the. Began tuning a bit more before looking up.
"Once, a swordsman journeyed, past his comfy home.
For called to him a journey, to lands most unknown.
He traveled, over brook, rock, and moun~tain.
And so began the legend, of the Iron Lion's Cap~tain."
An adventurer stood up and jeered. "Oh please, don't fool the newbies! Play a proper adventurer's song!"
The bard tried to keep going, frowning slightly in annoyance.
"He journeyed over stormy sea, and Skippy waves with his sword.
And a man knew him as brave and true, and hired him as his ward.
So he came to join, the knights of Iron Li~on."
"Come on!" "You can play something more exciting!" "I bet he was paid to make a 'mannered' impression on the otherworlders!" "Coward!" "Sing something proper!"
The jeers grew more as more people joined in, jokingly and laughing as they exclaimed, clearly in good jest and fun, and the bar DM's eye began to twitch until finally the tune stopped!
He stood up, and threw his lite to the ground!
The strings snapped as it smashed to bits!
"YOU WANNA HEAR A GOOD AND PROPER SONG AFTER A DAY'S FIGHT?!"
The adventurers screamed back, "YES!"
"THEN SHUT UP AND CLAP YOUR HANDS!"
Another person, probably a member of the bard's party, threw up a leather-skin drum, the leather stretched over a wooden frame with tendon string holding it tight on the other side, also acting as the handle the bard caught it by.
The other's in his party took out similar drums, and among them Kai noticed one of the "random adventurers" who had been jeering.
'Oh this is awesome. They set up a PERFORMANCE? This group is already the funniest and most awesome people I've met so far out of all the natives.' Kai could barely restrain his laughter as the crowd roared, and raised their hands!
"BAM!" The bard-turned-fierce drummer slammed his drum with a drumstick. With a ball of leather bound to the end, filled with who-knows-what to make a soft end for the drumstick, he pounded away with fearsome power, and set a steady beat.
"BAM!" A pause. "BAM!" A pause. "BAM!"
And then the others began a fast, rapid beat, but lower in power, rising the intensity as tension filled the air!
"BAM!-tatatata-BAM!-tatatata-BAM!-tatatata-"
"Once there was a hero, a man of great pow~wer!" The bard shouted the verse, and the adventurers roared back! "HE LIVED IN A TOWN, WITH A GREAT OLD TOW~WER!"
Kai looked at his party members, all reacting differently to the song that was clearly a local favorite.
Pedro was shaking his head, Michaels standing a little stiffly, Xandra nodding along while clapping with the steady beat, and Helena rolling her eyes, while Layla kept flinching in shock while simultaneously having her eyes shine in the energy of the crowd!
'Okay... operation "make my party, PARTY!" is a go!'
He came over to Michael and bumped into his shoulder with his own. Michael looked down at Kai, who grinned and stomped his foot as he heard the next verse!
"In this town, was many a fearsome mon~ster!
So the lord and lady, became the hero's spon~ser!"
Pedro rolled his eyes, as if doing his best Helena impression. 'That was a shaky rhyme at best!'
Then he felt his arms get tugged, as suddenly Kai grabbed his hands and pulled him!
"What the-?!" Kai began to spin around while holding Pedro's hands, forcing him to spin too as the adventurers cleared a space. Kai hopped with every step in the spinning dance, in time to the beat.
Pedro began to laugh as he joined in the tempo-hopping, spinning round and round as Michael laughed while watching, clapping and stomping his feet too. Layla saw what Lai and Pedro were doing and grabbed Helena's hand. "Let's do it too!" She pointed, and Helena hastily shook her head.
"No I'm good!" She slipped her hand out of Layla's grasp and stepped away, and the batkin only had time to pout for a moment before Xandra caught her hand, and grabbed the other too. "I'll take that offer." Xandra winked, and began to spin so strong that Layla's feet left the ground, spinning round and round through the air as she screamed in delight!
The red tiefling stared in shock at Xandra and Layla. 'The hell is that freak orc doing? How shameful, acting like a man!'
The owlkin gazed around with some distaste at the certainly barbaric energy and pace, and Nick simply smiled calmly as he looked to his party. "Should we return to our rooms?"
They nodded and got up to leave.