"So there I was" Raven continued, her voice rising as she gestured wildly, clearly enjoying the attention of the waitresses she had rescued "This pig-faced merchant was shaking like a puppy! He had a whole stash of gold, and all he could do was whimper like a baby. Pathetic!"
The elf girl giggled, running a hand through Raven's hair as she shifted on her lap "You always find the dumbest ones, don't you?" she teased, her eyes glinting with mischief. The beastman girl beside them, more reserved but clearly entertained, smirked as she swirled her drink, her sharp ears twitching at every sudden noise.
"Easy targets, all of them" Raven replied with a smug grin, taking a long swig from her mug. "They either run, cry, or pee their pants. Sometimes all three!"
The trio's shameless laughter echoed through the tavern, drowning out the groans of the defeated and the heavy snores of those who had drunk themselves unconscious. Chairs were overturned, broken bottles littered the floor, and blood mixed with spilled ale. The aftermath of the earlier brawl was everywhere, but the girls had claimed a corner for themselves, far from the chaos.
After the fight had reached its inevitable conclusion, some patrons limping out, others slumped against the walls in heaps, the tavern had thinned out. A few of the waitresses, their faces pale from the earlier violence, had been pulled into Raven's orbit, sitting cautiously nearby, listening to her stories. They, too, laughed nervously, half grateful for the protection, half fearful of the unpredictable woman holding court in the middle of the wreckage.
"Ah, but you should've seen the look on the face of that fat merchant down south!" Raven continued, her voice rising as her tale reached its peak. "Tried to bribe me with some shiny baubles, thinking I'd just let him off easy" She leaned closer to the elf, her tone dropping conspiratorially "I took the baubles... and then everything else"
The elf girl's eyes sparkled with amusement as she bit her lip "And did he wet himself too?"
"Of course!" Raven exclaimed, throwing her head back in laughter. "What else would he do? I mean, I beat his guards, what else could he do?"
The group cackled again, the waitresses exchanging uneasy glances, unsure whether to stay or flee. The rest of the tavern was mostly empty, except for a few stragglers who were either too drunk or too defeated to move. The air was thick with the smell of stale beer, sweat, and blood, but Raven and her companions seemed oblivious, lost in their revelry.
"Another round!" Raven shouted, slamming her empty mug on the table. One of the waitresses scrambled to comply, her hands shaking as she poured another drink.
"You know" said the beastman girl finally, her voice a low rumble "Someday dangerous people will come after ya"
Raven waved her off with a smirk "Let them come then. It's not like they can catch me. And even if they do, it'll just be another story to tell" At that moment Raven remembered her pathetic defeat at the hands of the hero party, but she had escaped anyway.
The elf girl chuckled, resting her head against Raven's shoulder. "Always the reckless one"
Raven grinned, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Life is shit then you die, gotta enjoy when you can"
Today life was good. Pretty bar girls surrounded her, had free drinks, and a half-chicken that magically came flying towards her, the gods that always mocked her for her entire life forgot about their quarrell and smiled at her once.
The elf girl smirked, her lips curling as she leaned in closer, her breath warm against Raven's neck. "I'll drink to that" she murmured, raising her mug. The beastman girl followed suit with a slow nod, her amber eyes flickering with amusement as she lifted her own glass. The clink of their mugs rang out, a small sound in the aftermath of the tavern's earlier chaos.
Raven took a long, satisfying swig from her drink, savoring the taste. For once, the world didn't feel like it was crushing her, and she relished the moment. The gods, who had loathed and taken so much from her, who had cursed her with bad luck and worse company, had finally decided to give her something in return. Even if it was just a drunken stupor in a destroyed tavern surrounded by criminals and half-drunk thieves, it felt like a victory.
"Life is shit" she repeated with a chuckle, tearing a chunk off the half-chicken she had caught earlier. "But sometimes, you get a free meal out of it"
The door of the tavern opened once again. Raven glanced casually, she wasn't really worried, after all, is not like the city guard would come to a place like this, they would have to fight with half of the denizens of this part of the city before they could reach a forgotten place like this. But instead, a slender hooded figure entered the place stopping abruptly to witness the afterglow of the battle.
"My lady!" Said a frail guy who followed her, he looked like a chaperone or something "We shouldn't be here!" Then he comes to witness the devastation of the bar fight "Holy Mother mercy!"
Both of them seemed so out of place, for the expert eyes of Raven she recognized the hooded person as a female immediately, but not only that, a loaded female since the materials of her hood were pretty good and the craft seemed expensive. They looked like a duo with a giant arrow on top of them begging to get robbed. And since she wasn't a dumb brute, she could understand precisely that's what made them dangerous, or at least the girl looked like that, since the guy who followed her just looked like a loser, or a lap dog following her master.
"Shut up Kayle!" She said trying to hush him "We won't have another chance like this!"
Then it happened, even if she couldn't see her face, Raven knew she and the girl were making eye contact, probably she caught their eyes because she was one of the few people standing in this mess.
'Mmmm they looking for something' Raven spanked the ass of the elf and whispered to both of them "You are free to go girls"
Both waitresses glanced at each other and nodded as they hurried to move away as the strange pair made their way towards the mischievous cat who was amused by their boldness, but she was feeling generous, not enough to share her chicken, but enough to listen up to two birds who were away from their nest. As they were standing in front of her table, Raven crossed her legs and smirked.
"Fancy meeting ya here" She said without a hint of worry in her voice.