[Grandfathered] Barely Enough Room to Swing a Katta

[Aesha]

Timestamp: Evening, Thera, 6th Brightening of Optia, Summer in Era III of the Celestine Mandate, Era XII Post Fractum.

It was evening, at a time when most people where knocking off work and heading towards the local tavern for a refreshing and well earned drink after a hard day's graft. The tavern was full of people looking for refreshment and merriment for a few quick moments before going home to a hot meal and family. Though not exactly full to the brim, there was only a few empty tables left in the common room and extra waitstaff were on duty in order to cope with the rush.

A resounding din could be heard all through the tavern from the merry-makers, and it was impossible to heard any one conversation unless you were directly seated opposite the person in question. Even then, people generally had to speak up to be heard over the crowd. It was busy - but the tavern had been busier, and even then, was about to get so.

There was of course, one main topic of conversation on the lips of people that cared about such things. Everyone who was anyone knew that the Kattarian ships had been spotted that morning entered the immense harbour of Prime, and that earlier in the day the ships had actually docked. Speculation rolled off the tongues of many, wondering if the ambassadors had come to Alleria to make war or peace, or for some other reason entirely.

Suddenly, a hush decended over the assembled patrons. It happened in a wave, the people towards the front of the room fell silent, then the absence of noise gradually spread out amongst the other assembled people, as they tried to work out what was going on. It was certainly a sight to behold.

A gaggle of Katta that were obviously not Alleria had entered the doorway and conversation had ceased because people had stopped to stare at them. The were mainly cheetari but a couple of domestikatta could be seen in the group. They were all dressed in nothing but loincloths, with the exceptions of a few beaded or feathered pieces of jewellry here or there. They didn't need to even stand side by side with an Allerian Katta for people to know they weren't from the Empire. They spoke the Katta language, and apparently, took no notice of the faces that were staring up at them.

Arguing amongst themselves about something that could not be deciphered, the foreign Katta weaved through the throng to the couple of empty tables that the room provided and threw themselves into the chairs, much like anyone else after a hard days work. Eventually, the conversation in the room started up again, rising gradually from a low buzz to its previous din, though glances still involuntarily managed to stare in the direction of the Katta.

By now however, the tavern was more or less full, and anyone desiring a seat with their ale would most likely find themselves sitting next to the Kattarian natives, if they dared.

[Khaellii Wrenwitch]

It was a major coincidence that Khaellii was at the Crown Inn and Tavern. It was not a place she normally frequented. Since she was near the door when they arrived, she could see them very clearly. The Kattas brushed right past her, wearing nothing but loincloths and some beads. Whatever language they spoke, she could tell they were upset at something, and were arguing with each other. The room fell silent for a moment, as all eyes were cast on this bunch of characters, but they greeted no one, prefering instead, to head straight for a couple of empty tables.

Khaellii had heard the Madam talk about the fact that the Kattas were in town. In fact, she had made a whole batch of silver vine pills for the Madam that were supposed to be for the Kattas. The herbal witch in her wanted to know what the effects the silver vine actually had on the Kattas. She knew that silver vine was a depressant, something that would calm the nerves and induce drowsiness. She also knew that Kattas were very attracted to silver vine and would actually fight with each other to get it. At least the local garden variety of Kattas did. But these cats were native Kattarians. Their physiology was different, and their metabolism was probably different as well.

She felt in her pouch for the last remaning packet of silver vine pills. She had many packets of medicines with her, but the silver vine was easy to feel for. It was lumpy and full of pills as opposed to her other packets of powdered herbals. There had been one packet left over after the Madam had taken her pills. Khaellii curled her fingers around that packet and made her way over to the Kattarian tables. She reached the nearest Katta and stood there waiting until she had their attention. No sense in exciting them and illiciting a mortal wound for carelessness.

"Pardon my interruption, gracious ones. I was wondering if you were interested in something that I have for sale." She smiled and withdrew the packet with a slight flourish. With an expert flick, she opened the packet with a finger and exposed six perfect little white pills which, although odorless to her, was probably very strongly scented to the Kattas. Her smile continued even though she was quaking with fright inside, wondering what their reaction would be.

[Keirron Ri'owa]

Having left home early to find a good seat, Keirron smiled smugly as she watched strangers sit beside each other, clumping together like badly mixed paint. Clutching her mug of ale with one hand and her pencil in the other, she doodled absently, filling the paper with eyes, ears noses and animals. Her eyes flicked down to a more detail sketch of a hand so she didn’t notice the sudden drop in conversation.

Slowly raising her white head, the Katta looked startled as she saw the small gaggle of Kattarian Katta. Jade and hazel eyes looked the Cheetari’s up and down, the puzzled look disappearing slowly. These must be part of the Kattarian fleet that had the city in such a tizz. Finishing her ale, she continued to watch, her slim Lionoid face and Leopardi ears showing her mixed race.

Unsure of what to make of these Katta, she listened to their conversation. Their accent was much thicker than what she was used to, so she strained her ears to understand. The pencil now absently drew circles on the already full scrap of paper.

[Ian Moceanu]

Ian sat carefully scanned the room, it was an unusual sight for Alleria Prime. True, there where a multitude of divers races that inhabited and traded in the city, some more freely than others. But to see so many obviously foreign Katta in one place was odd. And clearly the potential for a riot was high. Even though Alleria was multicultural, it was littered with certain people to whom colour of skin and presence of fur was a matter to kill over. He hoped for everyones sake that the peace would be kept. He spied a particularily rough looking Katta and strolled over, making sure to be in clear view when he introduced himself so as not to startle it. (He could not tell wether it was male or female)
"Serale, friend. Might I buy you a drink in exchange for your company?"

[Kaetal Lunaire]

Kaetal strolled into the Crown Inn and Tavern without looking up from his under the black hood of his cloak. That is, until he bumped into someone while he wasn't paying attention. He quickly pulled his hood up and glanced upward.

"I do apologize, fri-...end."

Kaetal's mouth dropped open as his eyes beheld a view unlike any he had seen before in his limited patterns. He completely ignored the human he had bumped into and now stared at the crowd that had gathered here tonight with furrowed eyebrows. He turned and strode outside, looked up at the sign, and with a quizzical expression strode right back in. Kaetal shook his head and wiped his eyes real quick then sighed as he gave into the truth of the matter. Katta had invaded the bar. What was the world coming to? He then remembered the man he had bumped and looked back at him.

"Again, I apologize friend. Let me buy you a drink for my rudeness."

Kaetal waved over a wench and reached under the folds of his cloak. His hands came back out with about 10 crowns.

"Two mugs of what this man wants," Kaetal designated the man he had earlier bumped to the wench, "and the cost."

Kaetal waited for the price as he kept a closer eye on the inhabitants here tonight and the usual exits he normally kept watch over. He was content to stand. He didn't understand the nature of native Katta, but knew it was probably more aggressive than their more "civilized" counterparts.

[Aesha]

It didn't take long for the group of Katta to acquire a round of ales, and they were soon merrily drinking away and chatting in their own Kattarian language before any of the regulars of the tavern thought to approach them. In fact, most people were trying to avoid them like the plague, and only the very courageous even glanced at them. It was quite clear that the patrons of the tavern did not know what to make of the furred, foreign beasts.

The particular Katta that Khaellii approached was one of the cheetari that sat at the table, the most common breed currently in the group. Like most of them, he wore only a loin cloth, but both his wrists were adorned with strings of beads, which were made from different colours of expertly carved and polished woods. He flicked an ear as the half-elf approached, obviously a little surprised that any human would approach their table. He gave the witch a curious stare for a moment, even affronted by her forwardness or trying to work out the language. It was not clear that the Katta even knew the Common language of Alleria, but after a few moment he shrugged his furred shoulders with a twitch of his whiskers and looked curiously at the wares that Khaellii was offering.

"Yurr, I wonderrrr, whart they do, yurr?"

It was clear by his speech that the Katta were certainly not used to the language, and didn't have an immensely clear grasp of it, but nevertheless his sentence was mostly understandable.

Meanwhile, one of the Katta, a quite, more reserved type than most of the others, had noticed Keirron and was watching her with a curious air. The Katta was male like the rest of the crowd, and their bosterious and slightly rowdy manner would have them pegged as labourers in any nation. It was therefore easy enough to assume that they were most likely the sailors that handled the Kattarian ships on the way to Prime, since the servants of the ambassadors were probably of a more reserved nature.

The Katta continued to sip slowly at his ale, and rather than conversing with the Cheetari around him took an interest in the doodles Keirron was drawing. He was not like the others, being of Persettie origin rather than the wilderkatta Cheetaris, and apart from one other, he was the only one there of the domesticatta breeds. Due to the strict seperation of the classes of wilder and domestikatta on Kattaria it was clear that he was not sure how Keirron would take his attention. His green eyes regarded the female katta with curiousity, but he made no move to speak to her, because of the racial differences, and just sipped his ale, and watched the movement of her drawing implements. The scholarly Persettie looked somewhat out of place seated amongst all the rowdier Cheetari.

When Ian approached the table, the nearest of the Cheetari, once with an unsual black stripe down the centre of his nose, regarded him appraisingly, with a curious look. So far the humans of the tavern had been avoiding the group, and Ian had been one of the first to join the foreigners as they enjoyed the drink. it was quite obvious from the Katta's manner that he was dubious about Ian joining the group, but a free ale was certainly a prospect that wasn't about to be turned down. Again, the Cheetari showed only a rudamentary grasp of the language, and his accent made it difficult to understand but the meaning was fairly easy to pick up once the accentual differences were overcome. He gave Ian a nod and waggled his already empty ale mug at him.

"Sera! Yurr, 'Nother ale, good. Sit, sit! Yourrrr name?"

Kaetal was rather lucky, and just as he had ordered drinks for himself and the man he had bumped into, a table of two vacated itself. The previous occupants, two men who looked as if they had popped in after a hard day's work, decided to call it a night and left the table and two chairs free. The only catch was, it was right next to the table of Katta, and perhaps the men had only decided to leave because they had not liked being in such close proximity to the strangers. No one in Alleria knew whether the arrival of the Kattarian fleet was good or not, but when they invaded the local pub it was obviously a little too close for comfort for some people.

[Ian Moceanu]

Ian smiled and sat down across from the Katta. "My name is Ian Moceanu, welcome to Alleria Prime." He said, motioning for a waitress. "And what are we drinking today?"

[Khaellii Wrenwitch]

Khaellii smiled stonily at the the Cheetari, desperate to figure out what he was trying to say. It all sounded like a series of growls to her. Still, there was a cadence and a pattern to his speech that sounded as if he wanted to know what her pills did.

Good question!

Even Khaellii was curious as to the effects of Silver Vine on exotic Kattas. She smiled again, being careful not to grin or show her teeth too much for fear that Kattas would take baring of the teeth the wrong way. Just because humans and elves grinned when they were happy did not mean that the Kattas bared fangs when they wanted to show their geniality. Quite the opposite, she would imagine.

"Happy, happy pills!" Khaellii said slowly, pointing to the pills. If her guess was on target, Silver Vine would affect the Kattas much like a long and lush night at the tavern would affect a normal human being. At least, this was how Silver Vine affected the domestic Kattas. She had a feeling that it would cause the exotic Kattas to become just as highly inebriated and in a very happy mood, but there was no way to know unless they tried it.

"Good price for these. Smell!" She brought the pills closer to the Cheetari Katta, hoping that the scent of the Silver Vine was enough to prompt action on their part. Then she held her breath and waited, hoping the Chetari would not go crazy and rip off half her face with his claw.

[Kaetal Lunaire]

Kaetal noticed the emptying table as the ale reached him and he asked the price and added 2 crowns as a tip for the wench. He took care in his next statement, as to not alert the man he was about to drink with.

"Ah, grand! Look, over there, a table is vacating. Shall we drink these on our feet like uncivilized dogs? I think not!"

He laughed heartily and wrapped his arm around the man's shoulders and led him towards the table that was now empty and obviously everyone wasn't too keen about occupying it. Kaetal's father would've been proud of Kaetal's curiosity, but he wasn't sure if his father would've been all too happy with Kaetal's close proximity with a possible foe until he had properly assesed their intentions. Oh well, too late now.

He planned to watch these new strangers as casually as possible. If they seemed friendly Kaetal's intentions would turn towards making some new friends and learning what he could of these strangers. If they seemed to aggressive or unaccepting, he would scrap the whole idea and move on to his usual seat near whichever bard was singing the best songs tonight.

[Keirron Ri'owa]

Ears were folded back a little, trying to escape the loud noise without seeming to hostile. Pencil flicked across the paper, moving from corner to corner every few moments. That sense of being looked at unnerved the Katta and so far she had ignored it.

Jade eyes with their hazel ring about the pupil, flicked up to the green eyes that looked over at her. Eyes narrowed and her lips curled back slightly to reveal the beginning of sharp canines. Domesticatta, her Lionoid blood told her to rip him to shreds, yet she dropped the hostility and turned away. Persettie, outcasts of the new order, smart and well minded.

Her Kattaspeak was soft, the accents worn away a little but it was understandable none the less.

“What are you doing in this city and in this Empire?” A white tail flicked up into the mix breeds lap as she watched the tan Katta for a reply.

[Aesha]

The Katta Ian had started talking to waved his tankard around to indicate the type of drink he had been consuming, but back it up with words anyway.

"Ale."

The Cheetari twitched his tail a couple of times as Ian spoke, perhaps lapsing slightly into a form a kattaspeak as a habit. The Kattarians weren't used to speaking the common language of the Allerian Empire, and it was said that the workers chosen for the trip were, primarily, chosen because of their knowledge of the native tongue.

Ian. Goood to meeet you. 'M Ryrr'ha.

The katta was being rather friendly at the current time, but of course, this was just due to the universal love of sailors of free alcohol. It was quite likely that once the booze dried up, so would the conversation.

The Cheetari the Khaellii was conversing with gave her a somewhat quizzical look but nevertheless did not rip half her face off, and instead leant over to give the pills a hesitant sniff. The Katta sitting on the left side of him had begun to get interested in what the pair of them were doing, and he looked on with a slightly tooth smirk of amusement plastered on his face, at least when he wasn't sipping away at the ale tankard in front of him.

The katta that was inspecting the goods twitched his whiskers once or twice in successive repetition as he smelled the scent of the pills that Khaellii was touting. His ears pricked up slightly, and he looked somewhat interested in the scent that they produced, but, there was still the matter of price to be spoken about.

"Hrow much?"

As all of this was going on, Kaetal was making his way over to the vacant table that was situated by the group of Katta that had invaded the tavern. It was a tight squeeze, and whilst pulling out a chair in order to sit down, Kaetal rather unfortunately, put his foot down in the wrong place, and heard a startled yell coming from the table behind him. Upon looking down, Kaetal could see that his foot had stepped on a rather furry, stripy, black and orange tail, and it was likely, that behind him, sat a very angry katta...

The Persetti that had been regarding Keirron looked a little surprised, both at the question and that the Wilderkatta had popped it straight into their previously non-existant conversation. The Domestikatta gave an expressive shrug of its furry shoulders before following the gesture up with kattaspeak of its own. The language of the empire's Kattarian cousins seemed to have an odd dialect, a hint of an accent, but was non the less understandable to the katta of the empire.

"A question I would like to know myself. We're just escorts, sailors. I do not know what the intricate intentions of those we are escorting are. It could be anything. Everyone knows how devious the Calsethie clan are."

If it was slightly strange how free the as yet nameless katta was with his tongue, a glance at the table in front of him would give insight into it. Two ale tankards were already empty upon the top of it, and if any others had come before that also was anyone's guess.

[Ian Moceanu]

Ian purchased an ale for himself and Ryrr'ha when the waitress managed to find a free moment to make her way to the table. Ian gave an extra gold as a tip, as he knew she would be working much more then her wage was worth.

"So, Ryrr'ha, "Ian said, giving a valiant but nevertheless mediocre attempt at pronouncing the Katta's name. "What brings your ship to Alleria Prime? Do you have any items for trade that might earn an Elf a little profit?" Ian said, winking at the Katta and gesturing towards his cup, indicating that more ale would follow if the conversation proved fruitful.

[Khaellii Wrenwitch]

Khaellii smiled. The Cheetari was starting to get interested in her pills, and the katta sitting next to him was also showing signs of interest. No reason to charge anything at this point--she was merely interested in seeing the reaction that the Kattas would have to it. But she could not just give it away for free...the Kattas would think something strange was afoot.

"Very, very valuable and takes a long time to make. But you are special. For you, special price!" She said and smiled with a gleam in her eyes. She took one of the pills and placed it on the table in front of him. "One silver each."

She turned to the other Katta. "Would you like to try? Tonight, the price is one silver. The cost will be different tomorrow. I want you to try it tonight, at far below my cost to assure yourselves that it is very high quality Silver Vine." Again, she placed another pill in front of the second Katta. Khaellii was hardly worried about the dirt cheap price of a silver a pill. Whether or not they paid, she could care less.

What she truly wanted was information. She was especially interested in why they would all of a sudden show up in Alleria Prime, and if the Silver Vines were going to loosen their tongues, it would be worth all the Silver Vine she could create.

[Kaetal Lunaire]

As Kaetal noticed the furry, striped foot below his own, he heard the slight roar. He winced for a VERY brief moment and whirled around as a friendly chap might.

"AH! My friend!," Kaetal moved his tankard in front of the katta he had obviously offended, "My deepest apologies! Here, have this ale on me for my clumsiness. WENCH! Another round for this table on me and get me another tankard!"

He quickly grabbed the chair in which he had previously planned to sit and whirled it into place next to the katta he had mistakenly hurt. The time for casual observation was over. It was time to act friendly. He boldly wrapped his arm around the shoulders of his new katta acquaintance and sat down.

"Mind if I join you in the festivities? I love a good time!"

[Keirron Ri'owa]

Getting up, she pulled a seat beside the Katta, ordering herself ale and him another. Turning to the tan Domesticatta, she passed of a smile.
“I don’t know what they are like, tell me.”

Perhaps she could deduce what her kinsmen were up to in Prime. Keirron tapped the doodled piece of paper with the pencil, her drawings seeming a tad more uniform. She would draw their conversation, making it easier for her to read, and harder for others to understand.