Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shane gave an appreciative whistle as yet another customer entered her humble little store. Then again, the woman thought - and, in doing so, shamelessly praising herself - the Penguin was a unique place. It was bound to attract the interest of those bold enough to investigate what lay behind its deceptively-normal doors.

Ah, well, time to get down to business!

"Welcome, miss!" the bartender said, bowing with a swoosh of red and black fabric. Eeehee...she loved her clothes. And the smell of new furniture, and fresh-opened alcohol bottles. And, she was ecstatic that the spinning stools were such a hit! Her consultant had said they would be too expensive, what with them being a rather new and probably odd creation to most people. Fah! They were fun to sit on!

Snapping her attention back to the new woman in dark clothing, Shane had a vague feeling of having seen her someplace before - or perhaps a picture of some sort - and explained cheerfully, "Free first bottle of any basic or distilled stuff, and the first mixed you order is on the house too, plus one refill!"

Assuming that the long-haired blond male had also heard what was on the house, Shane decided to go along with his little innuendos. After all, making this Remiel-person uncomfortable seemed to be an entertaining idea. Leaning against the counter, the woman put a finger up to her temple in feigned contemplation for a moment, then turned to look at Kaisa. "Yes, Sex on the Beach is quite good. And there's so many ways to do it, too!" she added with a knowing nod.

No, really, there were twelve different kinds that she knew of. And Shane would probably end up inventing a thirteenth somewhere along the way.

"But," the owner said after a moment, "I hear that a lot of people like Sex with the Bartender too. That can get pretty wild, if you add in all the right touches." A mischievous wink thrown in Kaisa's direction completed her own line of amusement.

"And Iris?" Shane said, spinning off from the group of three men without missing a beat, "Sorry, but we'll have to do that on the rocks for now. I, unfortunately, lack ice-crushing ability, at the moment!" Such a woe!

Speaking of woe's, Cadhla was probably getting pretty bored by now. Hm...taking up the vodka and fruit juices she'd need to make the Little Miss's order, she brought them over so that she could have a more 'private' chat with said Little Miss. "Psssst," she said in a low, yet obvious I'm-trying-to-tell-a-secret voice, "When shall we begin?"

------

Zephan returned Elrok's greeting with a light whistle, greeting each of the other new arrivals with a careful nod. Though, each of Elrok's fellow female companions had each spun off into their own little area, and that interestingly-colored black and red one had followed suite.

No one seemed eager to chat.

Especially that haughty, crested male who had just waltzed in.

....Eh, whatever. Not quite the talkative one himself, the large black male let his back legs collapse into a sit, easing his protesting back. Hmph...though, he probably wasn't the only one with a protesting injury. "I know I'm not one to talk," the male called over to the red-striped griffin whom he knew was also injured, "But shouldn't you be resting?"

Not that anyone who had met the hell-beast was likely to comfortably rest for a while. Even Zephan had been listening for sounds of the horrid creature's wretched voice.

The blonde woman wore a bemused expression as the bartender sidled over. A light smirk coming to Nikki's face as she listened to the speech of free bottle of something or whatever... it didn't really matter all that much to her and she just waved a hand dismissively. "I'm in the mood for some red wine, that's all." She usually liked something more exotic, but well... that's just how things go. She usually wasn't one for anything too strong though, as she didn't like to get herself drunk. Losing ones senses just wasn't appealing to her... and she'd rather not find herself in a regretable situation. Not that she hadn't before.

A brow was lifted as she couldn't help but overhear some of the conversations going on nearby. Sex on the beach and with the bartender... uh huh... someone marrying someone of the same gender and not knowing until the wedding night... sure. Perhaps she did need something to loosen her up a bit... the woman not being overly impressed with the silly jabberings.

However, a wave did catch her eye and brown gaze turned to someone that seemed vaguely familir but she couldn't place. Sitting up, she turned to look toward her as she introduced herself, "Nikki" she replied.. not knowing or caring if she already knew of her or not. This woman didn't bask in any fame she might have... not one to bask in the limelight so to speak. She just went with the flow. "Well enough." She wasn't really a good conversationalist either


---


Darkfeather was distraught... clacking his beak angrily and pacing the yard a bit before eventually finding himself a spot and settling down. He didn't like it when he had to sit outside while his human did whatever it was she does inside these places. He much prefered to have her within his sight. Feh. He didn't like being locked up in these yards with other griffins.. cause then he might be forced to be... gasp... social. OMG. Nevermind he could fly out if he so wanted... but well... he didn't want to disobey or just leave Nikki here either. Grump. The other griffins were pretty much ignored.

Iris. So he was right, it was the Nefretiri! Pleased with himself, Kaisa spun once more on the chair and turned to face Mal. "Ah, we are honored to have the lovely Miss Iris judge." He gave Rem a sad puppy look. "Especially since the lovely Mr. Remiel seems disinclined..." Even the way he'd said "lovely" about both of them made it quite clear about his preferences. Or rather, lack thereof. He wasn't high enough or low enough on the social totem pole of Xuan nobility for it to make any difference if anyone knew. Especially since it was a well known fact that his family had given up on trying to convince him otherwise some time ago.

Not allowing Mal to take his shirt off? How unfair. "Hey, just because you are insecure is no reason not to let Mal have some fun." He grinned at Shane. "As long as the owner of the establishment will allow it, that is." Ah, but he loved his games when he was allowed them. He might seem to be the least serious person in the room, but on the contrary, this was a less obvious form of hunting for him. Hunting for fun, for information, and possibly for allies. Friends; the future would determine if he'd call any of them friends. "Actually, if the lady will allow it, we should have a shirtless spinning contest!" And this was certainly fun. For him, and from the looks of things for Mal and Iris, too. Just probably not for Rem.

Tiamat was actually intrigued when the crested male entered. Now he might actually be worth some attention from her... he was certainly far too good for the attentions of the others. He seemed to know the fact, too... but he also seemed to lump her in with them. Fah... She wasn't going to go begging for attention from such an addlepated lump as him that couldn't recognize her magnificence. So she just sat and gave him a long, cold look before going back to pretending no one else was here and hoping Kaisa would be finished with whatever he was doing before she died of boredom. She wanted to go hunting.

Zephan eyed the new male for a moment, noting Darkfeather's plumage as something he had seen possibly once before.

...Right, the party before the hell beast fell in on them. Well, at least he, and that other red-speckled female, were keeping to themselves; less talking for him. But, oddly enough, Elrok he didn't mind speaking with. The black griffin hadn't a clue why that would be, but when he thought about it, the black-striped female of similar coloring to the red male he didn't mind either. Maybe it had something to do with the coloring...hmph. He was thinking strangely again. There was one other exception to his silence, and that was Kalei. Though, in all honesty, whenever the brown and gray griffin came by with his human, all the two males did was sleep. Zephan's favorite activity, after all.

"Healing." he said shortly. He should be able to walk again soon; while the injury to his leg was still rather sore, and while he would have claw-mark scars there for a time, the male would be all right. "The striped female you speak of told me a few days ago to keep resting. I won't argue against her."

------

"Fantastic, my first wine customer!"

Grinning quite a bit like a child who has just received a new toy of some sort, Shane used the order for wine as a distraction to divert attention away from the fun little plot Iris was having her help with. Humming cheerfully - some old folk song this time - the bartender finished up the Phoenix Paradise she was preparing, poured the mixture into a glass, and scooted it over the counter to the orderer. "Enjoy!"

Sliding away some of the bottles to take back to shelves, Shane was about to ask the blond-haired hotty - the one that wasn't blushing - which Beach he wanted, when the subject of shirtless men came up. "Nooow wait wait wait. As much fun as that might be," the woman said as she crossed over to the wine cabinet, "Clothes stay on when y'all are on the main floor...But," she added in a slight after-thought tone, "The rooms are always open." Gesturing to the hallway off to the right side of the bar, Shane continued, "We could even bring in a few spare spinny-stools if you two want."

Hm...gazing into the wine cabinet, the Penguin's owner knew she needed to pick a good vintage and year for this Nikki. The name was familiar, though, if the woman didn't want to elaborate, Shane would fully endorse the concept of personal space bubbles and privacy. Picking out one of the lighter reds, the woman uncorked the bottle and took a moment pour a small sip for herself. Swirling the glass, she gave Nikki an 'I'm just giving it a taste' smile before tasting. Hmmm...good choice!

Pouring a new glass for the dark-clothed woman, Shane solemnly set the drink and bottle before her. "On the house too, Ms. First Consumer of Wine." After adding a knowing nod, Shane turned to look at the newest person to walk through the door of her little shop. A girl, with an air about her that said she was likely to be in her late teens. Mmm...Shane had a strict policy on underage drinking; it wasn't allowed.

The barkeep did listen, with an expression of polite indifference, however, when the girl inquired after a...job? Oh, then this was a totally different matter then. Excellent! Her face brightening once more - both from the fact that this girl wanted work, and from the absolutely adorable way she had pronounced 'penguin' - Shane nodded fervently, her red bow bobbing as she did so. This was great; she could start training her knew employee immediately. Perfect atmosphere, considering there weren't too many people around yet. But first....

"You got it, little miss!" she replied in confirmation. "Here, come around the back," was said as she walked back to the other side of the counter area and swung the gate at the end open, "And we'll do a short interview!"

Hm...she could trust the handful of customers to behave themselves for now.

((Oh hey, Fey, did you see Trill's growth? :3 Link))

The room the bartender led her prospective employee into was basically one of the smaller side-rooms that she had decided to keep around while renovating the building. It fed into the larger back room intended for storage of miscellaneous items, though not spare alcohol. No, that was kept beneath the building, and to get there, one had to find the trap door on the ground in the large back storage room and head down a little staircase. Anyway, if this girl was hired for the job, she'd learn that soon enough.

But as for their current room, itwas just large enough to hold a creaky-looking wooden desk - currently littered with a variety of papers - pushed over into a corner, and one or two equally shaky-looking chairs. On the wall was a large window that let a great deal of sunlight into the small space, and the view from the glass was a pleasant one out into the garden. In the opposite diagonal corner of the desk was a few mis-matched shelves and a tiny bookcase occupied by more un-bound papers. Basically? A small space to store current, need-to-look-at records. Oh, and some orders the Penguin's owner needed to finish filling. Anyway.

Shane tapped a finger to her cheek, gazing at the general mess of sheets spread across the desk. "Just a sec..." she murmured as she began flitting through the piles. Hopefully this one had submitted an application...ohwait. She should probably ask. Though, there was something else she needed to look for....Rather off-handedly, and without looking at Silence - at best, her face was angled away from the girl's - "Your name, hun? And...damn, where is it....Did you drop a note beforehand stating your interest at working here?"

Well, here was that order for a standard shipment of ergot....whoops. She'd told that trader she hadn't gotten it.

...Oh well!

Turning back to Silence, Shane blinked for a moment, forgetting whether she had gotten an answer yet or not. Huh...she needed to lay off her nightly habits for a while - she had a feeling they would eventually make her delirious.

No, I didn't see Trill's growth, PR. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Please notice that my sig now reflects the change.

Silence stared hard at the proprietor, she was certain that the woman was speaking, but it was quite beyond her to hear her words. She could barely see the tell-tale movement beside the woman's ears indicating that her jaw was moving. She hated having to admit this, but she knew it would come to it eventually.

"Madame, would you please repeat yourself? I cannot hear you - or anything, really, but if you will look at me when you speak to me, or at least not look away from me, I can read your words in your lips. Otherwise I am at a loss."

It pained her to admit this, because she knew that these words would lose her the job in an instant. She had hoped to be able to maintain a semblence of normalcy until she had proven her competency. She was competent, but she was slightly impaired.

Silence really wanted this job. She had liked the look of the place, and the early morning clientele seemed to be comprised of a good sort of people, the sort which kept to their own codes, even if not always to the law. Silence could live with that easily enough. Meshach still refused to be bound by human laws, though he was decidedly human now and for the foreseeable future.

"Look," Silence continued before the proprietor spoke again, "I know that being deaf makes me and unlikely candidate for the position. Believe me. I wasn't born this way, though, and I can pass for unimpaired under the correct conditions. I'm no stranger to hard work, and I will work hard for you. Truly."

~+~+~+~

Meshach followed the young adult griffin, Trill, and the small adolescent griffin, Chade, through the streets of Xuan City, remembering a time when his senses was as keen as theirs, and he would have been able to find Silence without her griffins' assistance. As they walked into the south end of town he found his concern mounting. This was not the sort of place he had ever thought to find Silence in, but the griffins seemed agreed on the course they were following. Apparently she was here.

They all hesitated when they drew in front of a tavern with an iron gate and a sign saying that griffins were welcome in the garden, but not inside the building. That was sensible. The problem was that he doubted Trill and Chade would be content to remain in the garden until they had ascertained for themselves that Silence was unharmed.

Before he crossed through the portico he glanced up at the name of the establishment: The Charming Penguin. The word "penguin" was vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. Somewhere in his almost nine hundred years of existence he had heard the word. It wasn't terribly important though. What was important was keeping the two griffins flanking him under control when neither acknowledged his authority.

He decided his best bed was to keep in physical contact with Trill, though the griffin, surprisingly large for his age, was unlikely to be effectively restrained thus if he decided to fight. For now, it seemed, Trill would do so. Meshach wasn't concerned about Chade. The small griffin was unlikely to morph into a destructive force. Therefore, he buried his hand in Trill's feathers and took a tight grip which would probably pull them out if the griffin tried to evade him.

~+~+~+~

They were getting closer! Silence was very near indeed!

Trill chirped his discovery to Chade who seemed unimpressed with his findings. Understandably. Silence was obviously inside the building which smelled of alcohol and griffins and humans. He wanted to go in there. Now!

He surged forward, dragging the human male, Meshach, behind him. Meshach was strong, but his strength was not equal to that of a healthy, strong griffin just into adulthood. Chade was making a nuisance of himself, walking slowing in front of Trill, preventing him from advancing at the pace he would like to into the establishment. Trill contented himself with walking haughtily into the bar, glancing around regally while keeping his senses at their highest level to determine Silence's exact location.

~+~+~+~

Chade did his best to slow Trill, to prevent him from making a careless entrance, but it was difficult, since the older griffin was twice his weight. Nevertheless, he banked on Trill's reluctance to do him harm and he bet on the right griffin. Trill's speed was sufficiently impeded, Meshach was not being dragged on his stomach, and Trill was not charging headlong into an unknown situation.

Trill, Chade said sharply, you should wait outside. You're too large for this room, and it may get Silence in trouble.

This time he was counting on Trill's devotion to Silence's well-being. Trill was too large for the room, and merely unfurling his wings more than halfway would have him colliding with tables, chairs, and human beings. That would be bad. Very bad.

Chade watched with narrowed eyes as Trill submitted. It was no secret that Chade was the cleverer of the two, and that he gave sound counsel, but every time Chade was forced to tell Trill something he didn't wish to hear, the small grey griffin worried it would be the time Trill decided he was tired of listening to a griffin barely strong enough to support his own weight in flight.

Fortunately, this was not the time, though the resentful slope of Trill's shoulders was obvious as the large, spotted griffin stalked sulkily out of the establishment. Chade smirked to himself as the former dragon was led back out of the tavern by the same griffin which had led him in.

Then the small, unobtrusive grey griffin continued their quest, following Silence's scent, threading through the bar. He knew he could not evade notice, since he came up to a man's waist, even if he was small for his age, but he sought to do so anyway. He slinked and crept to the back room, keeping his wings folded close to his back and moving forward in a crouch, practically on his belly. If the floor weren't clean, this would be a very messy enterprise.

In the back room he saw Silence and another woman. Silence looked to be safe, but on a whim he continued his prowl, coming closer until he could shove his head under her hand, demanding attention. He had no idea the possible repercussions of his impetuous decision.

Rem, for one, didn’t miss the significance of the whole ‘lovely’ thing. Inwardly---and outwardly too, actually----he hoped that Kaisa was just being polite or trying to make him blush. But, he had to doubt it. Why did he attract the gay ones?! Or the ones who couldn’t choose between the pole and the hole, apparently…

“I don’t care. He has to keep his shirt on. Even the bartender here agrees with me on that,” Rem said with a hint of savage pride in his voice. Ha! The bartender was agreeing with him! Thus, he was in the right about this, even if he was just a lowly water drinker! “I don’t care if it’s Shirtless o’Clock, Mal. The shirt stays on.”

“Wouldn’t be saying that to Nyhali,” Mal muttered darkly, apparently upset that his Shirtless o’Clock had been ruined. At least he got a bit of revenge by making Rem blush. Again. “So much for the brilliant idea of a shirtless spinning contest, Kaisa,” he said with a great sigh. Ah well, at least the idea of a spinning contest was still up. Although, he had to admit, he played around a good deal with the idea of grabbing Kaisa and dragging him to one of the back rooms. He wouldn’t, of course, because such a thing would be rude to everyone in general and because he wasn’t too keen on everyone knowing just exactly who he liked. That, and he did have some sort of streak of morality. It was either that, or he was too paranoid to hunch with just anyone.

Some of his certainty was shaken when Iris suddenly had to leave, leaving him alone with Rem and strangers. Then again… well, Rem was in more danger from Mal than the other way around. Still, he didn’t like the fact that Iris left them there alone. She said she had some sort of acquaintance to meet. Maybe that was the truly unnerving part.

“So, now we’re out of a chance to see me shirtless and out of our judge!” he sighed dramatically and leaned back in his chair, wondering just what they could do. Well, there was always talk, right?

Silence’s appearance and talk with the bartender went, more or less, unnoticed by the men. The gryphon, on the other hand, was of great interest to both Rem and Mal. Silence descended over the pair as they watched until it was out of sight. Finally, Rem broke the silence.

“… did a small grey gryphon just walk through the room?”

“… yes. I think one did.” Mal looked at the whiskey, as if wondering just how strong the alcohol was.

Kaisa watched the small adolescent try to sneak through the room. It didn't seem to be intent on causing trouble. "Belongs to the applicant that went back with the barkeep a few minutes ago, more than likely. Courageous little guy, standing up to that big fella' outside. Did you see him?" Kaisa couldn't help a grin. Griffons were one of his absolute favorite things, and he couldn't help admiring the most recent two. "Got tired of waiting for her, I guess."

Kaisa was quieter for a moment than he had yet been since entering the bar. You could almost see the wheels turning. Finally he spoke, tone one of honest curiosity. "So you two do know Nyhali, then?" It could be a different Nyhali... but that was utterly doubtful. He'd yet to run into someone else with her name, and he'd met very few women who could truly invoke as much blood rushing through a man's body as currently colored Remiel's face. "How is the dear redhead? And Kedri? I haven't seen them in months." Though that might be a circumstance Tiamat would be loathe to correct.

Kaisa spun around on the chair a few more times. "Well, Mal... we may be out of a contest for now, but we can still spin until one of the three of us gets dizzy, perhaps? Or spin and sing drinking songs. I'm sure we can entertain ourselves."

Tiamat watched the new spotted male through hooded eyes. He was big. She was no slouch, but... he was big. And the little gray one that joined him later was... not big. She opened her eyes fully and peered curiously at the pair. They were talking... she caught something about finding silence. How could someone find silence with all the noise they were making? She clacked her beak in irritation and lay her head down between her foreclaws, stubbornly plastering her ears down against her skull in an attempt to cut down on the sound and glowering the entire time.