Another day had come and gone - another day where Mazerine’s services had gone unhired.  Her lack of work was not for lack of skill - it seemed that no one wanted to hire the elfe.  With as skilled of a mage as she was, it had first come as a surprise that her skills seemed to not be in demand… but after time, she had come to realize that the people of Adeluna had a not-so-friendly disposition towards elves, no matter their skill set.  Also, the fact that she was female did not help her situation.  Racism and sexism ran rampant in the city, and she was now finding herself victim to them.

Begrudgingly, Mazerine returned to the Winking Mermaid, just as the sun was beginning to set in the evening sky.  Thankfully, she still had a bit of coin in her pouch, and her room was paid for the next three weeks - this afforded her enough to have a bit of wine before she retired for the evening.  The tavern had become her home as of late, with a fairly permanent room held for her (as long as she assisted in helping to keep the riff-raff at bay from time to time).  The regular patrons did not make small talk with her, but they left her alone, enough to the point where she was able to peacefully enjoy a drink before bed.

She walked to the bar, sliding herself onto one of the wooden stools that line the countertop.  The barkeep came over after only a short wait.  ”’Ello, Maz,” he said, with a grin that was missing a few teeth.  ”Ya look like ya had a rough ‘un t’day,” he continued.  She shrugged her shoulders and watched the friendly man as he filled a stone goblet up with a dark red wine and set it in front of her, without her asking.

She nodded slowly, taking the goblet and pulling a long drink from it before she responded.  ”You’re not wrong on that one, Wulfric,” she said, with a sigh.  ”Another day without fruition,” she said.  She reached into her satchel to pull out a few silver coins, but when she moved to place them down on the bar, Wulfric reached out, grabbing her wrist gently.

”Money’s no good ‘ere tonight, Maz,” he said, the toothless grin persisting.  ”Ya helped us out with that were what got outta control night ‘fore last,” he said.  ”Yer’ on us t’night.”

”Thank you,” she said, rather quietly.  Mazerine gave him a woeful grin and took another drink of the wine, her eyes watching Wulfric as he walked away.  Of all the people she had come to know in her time so far in Adeluna, the barkeep (she was beginning to think he owned the establishment) had by far been the most friendly.  

The bar was rather empty on that particular evening, and Mazerine found herself feeling a bit disappointed in that.  She was in the mood where a brawl that she would have had to break up would have been welcome, as her mood was a bit on the darker side thanks to her failure earlier in the day.  With a sigh, she looked to either side of herself, noticing the empty bar stools, and turned her attention back to the stone goblet in front of her, draining it with another long drink  Wulfric appeared rather soundlessly and filled the cup, saying nothing before walking away once more.

It was a new city! A wonderful new city! Krecht had rarely been in such a large city. It was a wonderful, chaotic mix of so many different types of people. He was thrilled. His troupe… Not so much. He heard several of the actors complaining they'd never find work in such a large place. It made sense. Surely a kingdom the size of Adeluna had many, many, many other troupes to employ. The chances a small band of actors and singers had of getting noticed was pretty minuscule. Not that it bothered Krecht. He wasn't traveling with them for the money. He just loved to see new places.

The troupe decided to find lodgings for the night but a few thought drinks were in order first. Krecht was often assigned a "friend" in the group that would put up with his near-constant need for a companion. Once that person was driven to trying to strangle Krecht, a new person was assigned. It was a hated job by nearly everyone but Krecht was too useful for the grunt work so most just put up with him. He knew he was nearly universally disliked but this was a way to travel and meet new people and he didn't want to give that up. In any case, his "friend" this time was one of those going to a tavern they'd seen near the docks. Krecht followed along, much to the group's dismay, but he was mostly distracted just watching everything happening around him. Together, their group of five (including Krecht) entered the tavern.

It seemed to be a slower night and they were able to nab a table. Krecht was nominated to grab the drinks for everyone (as he usually was) so up to the bar he went. He politely stood and waited his turn, his dopey smile ever-present. He had just ordered the drinks and the barkeep was filling them when Krecht happened to see the woman beside him.

"Hello! It's a nice night, right? Isn't it? Oh, but I haven't been here before so maybe this isn't a nice night for the region. But the moon is so bright and it doesn't feel like a bad night. So. That's a nice night! I hope you're having a nice night, too!" he said cheerfully. In his mind, he was just being polite.

Mazerine noticed the man as he approached the bar to requisition drinks for his group, but gave him nothing but a passing glance.  Her gaze then drifted to the group that he had come in with, before turning back to the cup before her.  She had just raised it to her lips, about to take a drink of the crimson liquid, when the newcomer at the bar next to her began to speak to her.  She did not make eye contact for a moment, frozen with the cup to her lips, before she took a quick sip and set it down, turning to face him with her emerald eyes.  

She let him speak, not saying anything at first.  She watched him with curiosity, amazed at how much he had to say, and at just how happy he seemed.  It was out of place, at least it seemed to be in her opinion.  When he had finished speaking, she took another long drink of her wine, and set the goblet back down on the bar top with a soft clunking sound.  She knew the poor bloke was just attempting to make idle conversation with her in a polite manner as he awaited service from Wulfric, but she was not entirely in the mood for it this evening.  Before she could stop herself, she spoke, the sassy tone of her voice highly audible.

”You’re an awfully happy one, aren’t you?” she asked, with a sideways smirk and narrowed eyes.  She pushed her wavy, auburn-colored hair behind one of her pointed ears, half-way expecting the man to cease speaking to her when he saw the telltale sign of her elven heritage.  She fell silent again, discerning within her psyche the best way to answer the man.  ”Weather’s fairly typical, but the noise this evening… it’s rather annoying, isn’t it?” she asked, the sarcasm nearly dripping from her words.  

After another moment of silence, she spoke once more.  ”You’re not wrong, about the moon,” she said, her gaze drifting towards one of the dingy windows of the tavern.  ”It’s unusually bright for Adeluna, this time of year,” she said, taking note of the fact that the man was not an Adelunian, but rather a foreigner - she found herself wondering from where, and realized that she could perhaps tolerate a conversation, just maybe.

”Mazerine,” she said, extending her hand towards him as she had learned was the custom of most people in the area - the introduction was rather brief, but friendlier than she had began.  ”And you are?”

Krecht was hardly the type to keep any conversation bottled up. He blurted out his words typically when they came to him. At times, it could cause him to put his scaled foot in his mouth but he had this annoying way of never saying anything bad about anyone. So there was little to regret in terms of what he was saying. Most tended to consider him a fool anyways.

He grinned as she watched him, glad she was at least making some eye contact. He wondered if she was lonely! That certainly wouldn't do! She also seemed thirsty, with the way she took such a looooong drink. Maybe it was the most delicious wine in the area and that's why she took such a long drink.

Krecht grinned proudly as she commented on how happy he was. If he'd had a tail, it would likely be wagging. He, of course, noted that she was seemingly meaning it in a scornful way. He was observant and despite what everyone thought, he was intelligent enough. But he was stupidly optimistic and rarely took harsh words to heart.

"Thank you!" he said in response to her comment about how happy he was. Even if he'd missed her first jab, the second was all too obvious. He continued to smile, cocked his head, met her eyes evenly and replied, "No, I don't think so. I think it's a welcome change."

Krecht noticed the pointed ear and expected she was an elf. But it made little difference to him. He was far more…physically distracting than a pointed ear. Most races (outside of dragons) were all equal to Krecht anyways. He supposed she was pretty but not as pretty as a dragon or a half-dragon would be. Maybe she was pretty by elf standards. He couldn't really comment on that.

The woman opened something of a floodgate in terms of curiosity when she mentioned the moon being uncharacteristically bright on that night. Krecht was opening his mouth to babble a series of questions in response when she gave her name. That caught him by surprise. Most people weren't eager to introduce themselves to him.

Once again, the ridiculously large, dopey grin settled on his features. "I'm Krecht!" He was perhaps too excited and nearly yelled his name. "Mazerine is a pretty name! I like it! What are you drinking? Is it wine? Does Adeluna have famous wine? Is it because of the moon? Why is it so bright now? Is there something happening? Or maybe it's a sign! Oooh, do you believe in things like that? I don't know if I do. I might but why would the moon be bright tonight? What's happening tonight? Wouldn't it be funny if it was because my troupe came here? If this was a story, the troupe would probably be a bunch of heroes and they'd save the city or something! How exciting!" He took a pause for a breath, but would continue if not interrupted quickly. It was interesting how Krecht referred to the troupe as his, as he was clearly a part of it. But somehow he'd removed himself from the story of them saving the town. Krecht knew he was no hero and that a story such as that would never feature him as anything more than a victim or villain, just because of how he looked. But he understood that and accepted it. It didn't bother him. Not really. Not much at all…

Mazerine could not help but quirk an eyebrow at this man - Krecht, as he introduced himself - and his cheerful demeanor.  The thought crossed her mind at how nice it must be to be so carefree and happy as she noticed the grin that had spread across his face.  ”Pleasure to meet you,” she said, though the tone of her voice didn’t exactly give the impression that she was overly pleased.  Unfortunately for Krecht, Mazerine was in a rather foul mood, and therefore did not feel like being overly friendly.  

As his questioning continued, she decided that this man did not necessarily deserve her being rude to him, and she tried to tone it down, at least a bit.  ”I am indeed drinking wine - and yes, Adeluna is rather well known for its vineyards,” she added, giving him a bit of a nod.  ”As for the luminosity of the moon, I cannot speak as to its origins,” she said, pausing to take another drink of her wine.   ”The signs, with the moon, that you speak of - my people were raised on tradition to interpret the behaviors of all things in nature and the sky,” she said, the phrase taking on a bit of a bitter tone - more so than she wanted it to.  It was harbored resentment towards her people - the very people who had left her penniless in a foreign land - that drew forth the tone to her voice.  

She listened as the man droned on and on, finding herself rather surprised at his long windedness.  She couldn’t help but laugh at his wonderment of the situation, taking another drink of her wine.  ”You’re with an acting troupe?” she asked, her curiosity being mildly piqued.  Her cheeks had gained a tad of a rosy hue from the wine she enjoyed, but her speech seemed still unaffected.  ”Do those sorts of things happen to you often?  Or is that just something out of a play you’ve acted in?” she asked, though her words were not masked with sarcasm - this time, she was genuinely curious.

Mazerine was a bit hot-and-cold, Krecht noted. Part of what she said seemed friendly but then she turned cold just as quickly. It was a little bewildering but at least she wasn't as rude as some had been to him. Not that it would have mattered if she was. He would still talk just as much.

Thankfully, though Krecht spoke quite a bit, he was an excellent listener. He knew not to interrupt and he kept his undivided attention on Mazerine (even if it might have made her uncomfortable). He noted her tone as she spoke about the moon, though he thought it might be better not to comment on that. She sounded bitter and he hardly wanted to annoy her further. Unfortunately, he was now desperately curious to hear what sort of interpretations the brighter moon could bring. Instead, he nodded. "Many races do, I think! I once met a gnome, she told me about this myth her family had told her. That if the moon was yellow, it meant a storm was coming that would cleanse their farm. But if it was full and bright like tonight, it meant that somewhere a war was starting. I'm not sure why! Why would a brighter moon bring about a war? I hope that's not true. I was in a war once and it was terrible and I don't want to do it again. But if I had to, I would because I couldn't just leave people to be hurt."

She laughed! That was a good sign, right? He grinned at her laugh, rather proud of himself. "I am! I'm a singer!" he gushed as she asked. He was so excited she'd asked about it! He laughed when she mentioned such things happening to him. "Oh, no, no, no. Never to me! I don't know if anything like that has ever happened to anyone I travel with, though. It is the sort of story you hear about all the time for children, though. I did a puppet show about an evil king and the jester who overthrew him once. It was a lot of fun! But the kids got too excited and they tried to play with the puppets and when they saw me behind the screen they…" Suddenly the smile dropped from his face. He hung his head. "They ran away because they were scared," he finished, clearly sad to recall what had happened. He gave a sad smile. "They wouldn't let me do puppet shows after that. But I thought I was doing a good job but if I scare kids, then I can't do shows for them. It's too bad there aren't adult puppet shows. Maybe I'd be good at those, instead. Do you go see plays? What sorts do you like? Have you ever seen a puppet show? Aren't they fun?!" As he rattled off his questions, his mood lifted and he was soon just as excited and hyper as he had been.

That was when he heard his name barked across the tavern. He looked and whoops! He still had everyone's drinks! "Oh! I'm sorry! Can I take those over and maybe come back and talk more with you? I'm enjoying our conversation!" He hoped she'd agree!

”The gnomes have a bit of a different belief system than the elves of Endopano,” she said, though there was no animosity to her tone.  She was well aware of what Krecht spoke of - that the different races of Revaliir had many different beliefs regarding the moon and its lunar cycles - but they were all very different from one another.  ”It may be the result of the end of the feud between Life and Death,” she said, referring to the tumultuous events that had taken place between Angela Rose, the Triune holding power over Life and Creation, and Dalanesca, the Triune who held control of Darkness and Death.  ”When Lady Dalanesca’s daughter was still-born, it was said that the moon became a blood moon,” she said, rather softly, as the events she spoke of were not overly happy.  ”The white moon came back when Dalanesca’s happiness returned.”  She gave Krecht a quick smile, realizing she had digressed from the actual conversation they had been having.  ”The moon is bright because no one is being hurt anymore - at least that is how I see it,” she concluded.

”A singer?” she said, raising an eyebrow.  ”Must have talent, then, to be able to be a singer with a travelling troupe,” she said, feeling a bit regretful for her earlier terseness and playing on his pride, giving him the opportunity to boast about his accomplishments - but it seemed that he had now digressed into a different subject, that of a puppet show which had resulted in the children being frightened.  She could see that he was happy just to be speaking, even though the subject changed left and right, and it was at this moment that she realized she hadn’t wanted to spend the evening alone, and that having a companion to converse was quite welcome.  She took another sip of her wine, her head shifting in the direction from where Krecht’s companions had called out to him.

When he requested that he come back to speak with her further after delivering the drinks to his companions, she nodded, giving him a warm smile.  ”Sure. I don’t see the harm in it,” she said with a nod - and found herself wondering what stories she would be told upon his return.

Krecht watched Mazerine raptly as she spoke about the moon and told him her theory. "How interesting!" he said, and it was clear he meant it. He wished she'd tell him more but he wasn't sure if he could ask. "That is a better idea than mine!" 

Krecht gave something of a wry smile when she commented on his talent. The expression looked quite unnatural on his face. "I cannot say if I have talent. I rarely perform as we have many, many talented members. I usually act as more of a stage hand. Lifting and moving things. Sometimes they let me help build sets and that's fun!" 

He very nearly pouted as he was called away from Mazerine but Krecht brightened up immediately as she gave permission for him to come back. "Oh, thank you! I'll be right back!" Krecht hurriedly delivered the drinks and accepted their admonishments for being late with the drinks. He then excused himself for good and hurried back to Mazerine. 

Taking a seat beside her, he ordered a drink for himself. Having ordered, he turned to Mazerine. "I have to say this place is quite big! I've traveled all around so it's not that I've never seen a big city but in a lot of ways, Adeluna just feels more lively. Have you traveled before? What sorts of interesting places have you been? My favorite was visiting my dad in the desert! He really liked to sunbathe and it was just funny to see him waste so many hours just sitting on a rock. I love sunny days but not that much!" he laughed. "That's what cats do, too. Sunbathe. Maybe it is more fun than I thought. Hmm…" Krecht pondered that, finally giving Mazerine time to answer.