Welcome to Gaia! ::

He was definitely getting in over his head. There was too little time to interact with everyone one-on-one like he usually preferred. He had to take it in stride and do his best with what little time he was given.

“Sparkling water. For sure. I’ll bring you a few flavour shots and see if any of those appeal to you. Always good to broaden your taste pallet, right?” He smiled at her and glanced at the notebook she seemed so engrossed it. He was unsure about the content, but it seemed complicated—enough so to cause her consternated expression, at any rate. “That looks like interesting work! I’d love to hear more about it when I come back with your drink, if you’d indulge me? At least, if that’s all right.”

Not wanting to appear too pressuring, Matthias took his leave with another bow and turned back to finally address the comment the ponytailed man had called after him. “I promise it’s good. As weird as it sounds, my boss couldn’t care less about what’s going on out here as long as she’s not the one dealing with it. She has a customer service …” He trailed off to see the table vacant and the man already in the process of walking past him to have a cigarette outside. “Ah, never mind. All right, enjoy your cigarette, sir! I’ll be along to call you when it’s ready.”

Taking a moment to breathe in and revaluate his service priorities, he glanced between the table with the elven woman and the table where the black-suited curly-haired woman had gone to sit by herself. The sight gave him pause. Had the three of them not been sitting all together chatting amicably just a few minutes before? Glancing once more at the table with the elf warrior-woman, he winced and braced himself.

“You decided to keep the bottle?” he said pleasantly as he approached, speaking more to the elven warrior than the pretty black-haired girl in the dress. He really needed to learn some names here. The descriptor-only references were hurting his head. “I’ll leave it here to your leisure. I can also mix the vodka, if you’d prefer?” he added when he saw the girl in the dress trying a shot.

He admitted it: that surprised him. It was strong vodka and she didn’t seem the type that liked that sort of thing. Then again, he was generalizing. He needed to stop doing that before it got him punched in the face again—and this time not even by his manager.

“Here are some menus, if you’d prefer to order more than just bread,” he said, teasing the half-discarded plate of now-cooled bread in front of the black-haired woman. “I’ll leave them with you for now so you can decide. And for you, ma’am?” he added with a furtive glance towards the elven woman. A part of him told him to shut up and stop testing his boundaries, but she really did remind him of his manager.

His manager had a lot of self-restraint, though. And no axe. Maybe he needed to back off.

“Tell you what.” The mimicry of the elven woman’s own earlier words was more deliberate than he would have liked, but he found himself past caring. “I have to run to the back to check with the cooks right away. I’ll ask them what they’d recommend as their finest meat for a woman of your calibre, and I’ll come back with the responses, and you can make your decision based on that? I desire nothing but the best for our customers, so I want to make sure you’re served to the best of my ability. I’ll be right back with the prospects, okay?”

Taking several steps back, he turned and quickly hurried over to the bar before the woman could give his head a nice reality check with her axe. He had other customers to deal with besides her, right?

Now .. sweet red wines. Had the black-suited woman specified a kind? He couldn’t remember. Did she want fruity or something with a spicier and more exotic bouquet? He was not a wine savant. His manager was never any help in that regard, either. He winced at the prospect of going back and asking her recommendation. It was better to choose the last one he tried himself and see if the woman liked it.

“Here you are,” he said, approaching the table a minute later with a glass in hand and the bottle chilling in a small pail filled with ice. “I admit that I’m not that versed in wines, but this is the least barbaric of the kinds my manager stocks, and I’ve enjoyed it in the past. Try out a glass and see if you like it, and I’ll leave the bottle or go fetch you another kind to try, all right?”

Finding himself again staring at the scimitars sheathed at her thigh, he bit his lip and then decided to sate his curiosity despite his best judgment. “Do you mind if I ask the nature of your profession? The other … madam over there seems a different sort of warrior than you. What is it that you do?”

Svana
See signature for reference

Svana wasn't fond of the fussing of the little blond, as if they were to be coddled and sugared. He had a little bit of a feisty streak, throwing her own words back at her, but she felt like it was a challenge. "What makes you think I'm hungry?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest. "Besides." She grinned wolfishly. "I doubt your cooks could get me the kind of meat I might be interested in, but you could try."

She eyed his backside as he walked away, wishing Urt or Amund were here to watch this odd dance with the little human.

Anna Gale

Anna took a sip of the wine that the server had placed in front of her. It was no comparison to the wine of Fiera, but it was not terrible either.

"This wine will do just fine, thank you," she told him with a friendly smile, "As for my profession, well, my name is Anna Gale, and I am a Dragon Rider. It is my duty to be a sort of ambassador of my people and to prevent wars from happening amongst the kingdoms of my land. Even though the nobles might not be very fond of that."

Anna relaxed slightly, taking a small comfort in the fact that Matthias did not already know who she was. She did not take kindly to the fact that she had to constantly put up with the prejudices of being a woman and being of inferior birth wherever she went.

Kai
reference

"It's...it's not that." Kai mumbled.

She picked up one of the flavor shots, citrus flavored. She put a few drops into her glass before stirring the water with her straw. She watched the water turn an orange hue.

"It's just that-" she paused. Kai wasn't sure how to explain the situation to a stranger. "I know these notes, but I can't just apply them. I'm a supposed leader, but I can't even freely access my potential like the others. It's embarrassing to be honest. I'm frustrated at myself more than anything."

Kai
reference

"I wouldn't say I don't want to be a leader."

A legitimate smile spread across her face at how she became the leader. "It's more like it feels right if I am. Something inside tells me that. It might be easier to show you what I have a problem with."

She moved the notebook off the table. She laid her left hand up on the table. Kai closed her eyes as she tried to regulate her breathing into an even pattern. She could feel heat coming through her fingertips. When she opened her eyes, wisps of smoke were coming from those same fingertips.

'Focus, relax. Concentrate on tapping into your core.'

Sparks flared into her open palm. "A-almost." she gritted her teeth. The sparks intensified.

Then nothing.

She sighed to herself at another failed attempt. "I supposedly have the potential over controlling fire, but I haven't been able to do it willfully. The others in my group can access their abilities when they can. My trainer says that there's a block or something and I need to figure out what."

((she's 17))

Jet didn't wait for Svana to stop her, she just took a mouthful of the alcohol. It burned her throat going down, but otherwise was very much like the amber liquid she had found at home. It was soothing, somehow.

The server's implication that she couldn't hold her liquor riled her, but she only shrugged. "I like it just the way it is, thank you," she said, a smile on her lips - but it was not entirely sincere. "I'm not very hungry." She gestured at the tray of bread and shrugged again. "And it's not very good bread."

Once Matthias had gone, she turned back to Svana. "You are aware that you're looking at him like a piece of meat, aren't you?" She pulled a face. Although, from Svana's expression it was clear that her lust was partially fuelled by the battle she had just come from; Jet had no idea what that must feel like. Still, it seemed a little insensitive to abuse the Help.


((Wow, so much going on in here right now. XD Sorry for dominating Svana, Aurin! I have no idea what else Jet might do in this situation, since she's apparently completely infatuated... >.> ))

"On the menu?" Jet choked back a snort of disgust. Instead she laughed. "I suppose he isn't really my type." Jet couldn't have told the elf what her type was exactly, but she wasn't sure it mattered as Svana was clearly more experienced with this sort of thing anyway.

She took the second shot from Svana, holding it between her thumb and forefinger carefully. What was it about alcohol that made her feel so comfortable? Ever since she could remember it had had that effect on her, unlike the effect it seemed to have on other people. Her sister, especially,was prone to fits of giggles and, much later, headaches. Jet shrugged off the memories of Constance and picked up the glass.

"So, what are you going to do about it? Him, I mean." Matthias was in for a fun shift ahead, and Jet couldn't help but be amused - and a little bit afraid.

Kai
reference

"I'm pretty positive that it isn't outside. It seems like emotional distress makes it happen. But that isn't a good habit."

She remembered how a simple argument nearly burned down a shop. Kai knew that wasn't how she wanted to operate. She took a sip of her water. "It's fine." she said, "No one really knows how this particular magic works. I guess it's one of those things I need to figure out myself."