Sweet Sleep Inn ((Under new ownership & Construction))

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Rex gave a nod as he finished off his own glass and passed it over, "I'll send a message her way with one of the kids. They've managed so far, almost like they're invisible most days. Might want to consider going to see Layla yourself, though. Heard that she may be down for a day or two after taking out a few of the bastards on her own. You know how she is..." he said simply then pulled a pouch from his belt then laid it on the bar, "For you. From Sebastet," was all he said about it before he gave a nod and headed for the door.

Inside the pouch was a very old Hylarr tradition: the Remembrance Rose. A rose handcrafted in a forge. It was the memory that would never die, the memory that would never be forgotten.

Tied to the rose with a silk ribbon was one of the daggers she'd once given to Lio, carrying the deep amber stone in the pommel that had matched Lio's eyes.

It showed that Sebastet knew how much Lio had meant to Taib and that she hadn't forgotten the new innkeeper...  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Several hours later, a group of seven walked in, five males and two females. All were WereBears, but none of them came close to the size of Griz. They looked around the place appreciatively, with one of them paying closer attention to the female staff. The older male didn't even look at him, just gave a short growl, "Dix..." he said simply, gaining instant obedience as the one called Dix simply refocused on the one apparently in charge as they moved on up to the desk with the register.

"Mind your manners, boys, or I'll make you go a round with Griz," the older male said simply in a gruff voice that showed an amount of power rarely felt in anything but an Alpha. This one ruled his 'family' with a firm hand and had seen them through rough times. For them to have succeeded in survival said alot about his leadership.

Behind them came one of the dock workers with a cart of luggage and the older male spoke again, "Razor, Tiny," he said simply and two of them peeled off to help with the luggage without a complaint. They even tipped the dock worker handsomely for helping them.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

((sorry. I am alive. life hit a bit too hard and fast.))

Taib held the crystal glass Rex had handed him and nodded.
"Be safe Rex. The winds of change are here and they will not be kind...it is a storm of change and it's going to strike without mercy."

Taib reached out and picked up the pouch and opened it as Rex exited the door. The pouch was as soft as the silk ribbon that cinched its ends shut and had Taib wondering what Sebastet could have possibly sent him. As the bag opened and the sides fell away, Taib smiled sadly. The pristine remembrance Rose sparkled in the light as Taib turned the rose slowly between their fingers. Gingerly they held the dagger that was attached to the rose and looked at the pommel with its amber stone. Unique was the blade that was made for the unique former male. Taib remembered him fondly as the two had spoken on several occasions when Taib was setting up their place of residence.
Lio had become a friend and it was through Lio, Taib had met many of the others here on the island. Lio as well as Borias had been their confidant when Taib found themself in need of getting themselves some personal situations taken care of. It took only one explanation for the two of them to understand and help Taib get what he needed.
Taib sighed and looked around and found the perfect vase for the forged rose.. Placing it up on the bar shelf behind them, Taib carefully arranged the dagger so it would not fall down. A stand for the dagger would have to be crafted to hold it later on, but there was no rush. Looking at this display made Taib realize that there was now only one person left whom knew what they really were. Taib shook their head but looked to the window and realized time was getting away from them. They had guests coming and they were running behind as they had spent too much time remembering things and thinking.

Several hours later found Taib serving and seeing to guests from the village, when a group of several tall males and females walked in. Taib handed his duties off to a female server who was already drooling at the new guests.

Taib walked up to the one who told the rest of his companions to behave. He had to be the leader if the amount of power rolling off this fellow was any indication.

"Welcome to the Sweet Sleep Inn. I am Taib, and I will be your host. I received word of your coming and everything is ready for you and your companions. Would you like to settle in first and then join the dining area for dinner or would you like meals brought to your rooms?"  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Life happens. Most of the time like a kidney stone... But it happens...

Pops gave a respectful nod, "If it's alright, we'll put our things away in our rooms. We have no problem eating down here, if it won't upset your staff or the other guests. I have to head up to the castle after I've rested a bit," he explained in his gruff voice.

The female next to him gave him a nudge with her elbow, "Pops... Explain the boys..." she said in a soft voice.

He pats her hand, "Right... Thank you Widow... Always looking after me," he said in a softer tone with a small smile for her then turned back to Taib, "The boys... Razor and Tiny are usually well-behaved. Doc can help with anyone that gets hurt while we're here. But Dix here..." he motioned for the last one mentioned to step forward, "If Dix gets out of hand, any one of the rest of us can deal with him. Also, I believe Griz may have given you a few pointers on him," he explained, knowing that Griz would have certainly warned them ahead of time about Dix and his antics.

The redhead next to Razor poked him in the ribs and he spoke up, "Also, for what it's worth, Either of the girls can take him down if needed. Pops tends to lean towards not wanting to put that on them, but they can do some damage to Dix if it's needed," he pointed out in a surprisingly soft voice for one so large.

Speaking up earned Razor a kiss to his cheek from the redhead and a smile from Widow.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Taib gave the leader called pops a respectful bow.
“There is no issue with you all putting items away and joining our other guests for dinner. If you will follow me, I will lead you to the hallway for rooms. This way please.” Taib lead them past the dining area, and front room, to an arched hallway that had etchings of the different races across the top.

“Everyone’s accommodations are on the left side of this hallway. There are no need for keys as the rooms will be imprinted with your unique signature once you place your hand upon the door. The door will only open for you.”

Taib had the leader show everyone how to mark the door and gave them space to enter the rooms. Taib also explained how they could use the magical properties of the bed to get bigger or smaller if they needed more space. Once Taib was done explaining everything, taib left the group to head to the kitchen to let them know to be prepared for some big orders soon. Once done there, Taib went back to the dining area to help out, but not before sending a messenger to Griz about his guests arriving safely at the inn.  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Everyone settled in, unpacking what they needed to, washing hands and faces, changing into fresh clothes, and then most of them headed downstairs to the dining room. Naturally, steaks were ordered. Thankfully there was a fresh supply of venison, boar, and fish. So supplying the healthy appetites of seven werebears would not be a problem. Surprisingly, they also asked for fresh vegetables. Whatever was in season was what they wanted, nothing special.

Only Pops and Widow were the holdouts. They'd stayed up in their room to talk for a moment before heading downstairs to join the others. Pops came down with a leather-wrapped folder that he set on the table next to his plate. They ordered basically the same thing as the rest, though Widow wanted the fish that was offered instead of steak.

While they were waiting for the food, Razor looked over at Pops, "Hey... You gonna tell Griz?" he asked softly, earning quiet from all the bears as well as somber looks.

The older bear nodded, "Yeah, I'll be telling him when I go up to the castle. I need you kids to watch for the next boat while I talk to Sebastet too. She'll know how to help. And where we can help out here while we wait. Don't be a pain in our innkeeper's a** while we're here. Help. Be useful," he told them simply then gave a nod of thanks to the girl that started handing out plates.

The redhead next to Razor sniffled a bit and Pops looked up at her with a soft smile, "I know Ginger... But the next boat has hope... And we have a chance now. You'll see," he assured her softly nodding as Razor put his arm around the female for a moment.

Pops looked at all of them and gave a heavy sigh, "I know we haven't spoken about it yet but it has to be said: We were hit hard. But we'll survive. Thanks to that pirate Sebastet suggested, we were able to get all the horses out and the survivors. Two more ships is all there is, I know. But we will survive this. We will have options from here. We can offer to stay here, there's the demon realm, and the elven realm... We have choices... And we have the cubs on the way... I'm headed up to the castle to tell Griz and to ask Sebastet if we can house the cubs up at the castle until we can get settled somewhere. We were hit hard but we fought back and won. Don't forget that," he told them, trying to give them some hope again.

Doc looked up and spoke in a beautiful baritone, "I'll go up there with you, Pops," he said simply, earning a head shake from the older male.

"No you won't. You'll help here. That letter from Sebastet said they were short on medical help for now. You find out where you're needed here. Same goes for the rest of you. I'll head up to the castle on my own. I need you kids to watch out for Widow and take care of things in the village," he said firmly then devoted his attention to the meal.


One of the servers headed to the kitchen, "Hey Taib... I think the bears are moving to the island... Or at least stopping here on the way to one of the other realms. It sounded like they got hit too, just like here. They said that another ship coming in has their cubs on it... I think that's kids for bears, right?" she said softly, knowing that Taib would understand what was going on better than she would.  

[Wolfe Garm]

Red Gypsy

Hot Champion_of_justice

Emilia came into the inn and just glanced around a moment noted the few people there and giving them a slight nod in acknowledgement before walking over to the bar and sitting down there raising a hand to get the attention of one of the staff, she had some time before she returning to her patrol, so she decided to get a bite to eat her uniform and equipment more in view now since hiding wasn’t really an issue, the crest of the wardens plain to see on her black uniform. As the Staffer stopped in front of her she just casually spoke “a plate of whatever you’re serving, and a drink to go with it” if the staffer spoke she wasn’t really paying much attention since her mind was somewhat occupied with the affairs of the town, especially with trying to set up a proper defensive line in case future attacks came in, even as she sat there she already had her ledger out looking at the logistics of the task in the long term, additional personal would need to be requisitioned, especially members of the Gvard Zafta, and additional members of her own Oculus division for command and control, considering their level of technology they would need to setup an outpost here and bring in their gear as needed, in the end it would take many months to properly secure the village and even longer to ensure the island is secured from potential threats.

As a plate and mug of food was placed in front of her she just casually moved the ledger to the side and continued working on the ins and outs of what they were going to need to achieve in the short term as well as the long term. “Emilia status report” she heard in her ear and simply raised a hand, placing a finger on her comms bead and replied “still working on it, give me time commander I’ll have a plan of action before the day is out” Felix replied “understood keep me up to date on progress and required logistics” she sighed “understood commander” was all she said before she filled her mouth with a fork full of food and just continued thumbing through her ledger and making corrections as needed.  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Red Gypsy

[quote="Wolfe Garm"

Taib was just returning to the bar from serving some other regulars, when one of the servers stopped to speak. At hearing their news, Taib raised a brow and nodded slightly and leaned in to speak into the servers ear as the dining area was a bit loud with chatter.

"Yes. Cubs do mean kids. I think it would be wise to move here as none of the other realms are quite in a state to receive guests...whether it's Long term or temporarily."

Taib looked over at the Werebear table and all of them looked pretty somber.
"...offer our guests the mulled spiced wine as an after dinner drink. They look like they need it." Taib took the servers tray and dirty dishes from her, but before taib sent the women off, they whispered to her.

"Keep your ears open. If anything else of interest comes up, report to me. I will pay you extra."

Taib gave them a wink and wandered back into the kitchen to get the dishes to the dishwasher.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As it was a busy night, Taib made sure no guest went unnoticed and served up the best food and drink the island had to offer, all the while listening here and there from the different patrons about what was going on in their lives and around the island.

Every bit of information was the same, residents were tired, weary, and a bit scared as they didn't know what was going to happen to their safe haven. With the recent attack, it had residents on edge and wondering if they should move on or stick it out.

Taib was in the corner taking a small break when they noticed the warden come in.
It had been a very long time since Taib had seen that uniform, but it was very distinctive. Now that the dinner rush was almost complete, and the customers were taken care of by their staff, Taib wandered over and noticed the female warden eating and thumbing through a ledger.

"How are you this evening warden? It has been a long time since your group has stopped on the island."  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

[quote="Wolfe Garm"

Pops looked up in surprise when one of her servers walked over with a tray of mulled wine for them, "Part of the dinner," she said simply, gaining a smile and a round of thanks from the bears at the table. Doc took a sip and pulled a more tender smile as he looked at the glass, "Reminds me of when I was young... Around the central fire, all of us having a mug of mulled wine heated next to the fire, trading stories and laughing..." he said softly, earning another smile from the others as they all remembered better times.

They sat there in silence for a long time before Pops finally gave a sigh and got to his feet, picking up the leather document pouch as he stood, "Well... I have to head up to talk to Griz... See where you can help out here. I'll be back later," he said before giving Widow a kiss to her cheek then turning and heading out the door to go up to the castle.  

[Wolfe Garm]

Red Gypsy

Hot Champion_of_justice

Emilia looked up from her ledger when she heard someone speaking to her and shrugged “can’t say I’m surprised, seems like there is little need to come out this far” she paused a moment when her comms bead came alive “Emilia make a note of sector five, looks like there is a lot of enemy patrols in that area, and seem to be gravitating closer to the village” she sighed and raised a finger to the bead “understood, sector five’s activity is noted and logged, I’ll make sure to account for the activity there when I send the requisition forward to HQ, Titus are you able to get an approximate of numbers in that area” “negative their keeping a low key but they’re definitely up to something in that area, may need to investigate further” Emilia just sighed and replied “understood maintain observation until relieved” Once Emilia made a note in her ledger she brought her attention back to Taib and spoke again “apologies, the activity in the area keeps me busy most of the time, especially since we’re here under contract with the castle” she offered a hand to Taib and continued “I’m Emilia with the Wardens Protectorate 82nd Tracker Division, I’m the requisitions and Intelligence officer” Once hands her shook she idly sat there and simply closed the Ledger, most of the logistics were catalogued on the page as she closed it, and while not easily readable was very clear she had been filing a general report for requisitioning new personnel for the security of the island.

Emilia was about to say something further when Felix came in and approached them which got an acknowledgement from Emilia “Commander, reqs are ready to be sent out, and the logistics for establishing a small Garrison base here are finished, I’ll have a chat with someone here in town about getting a small compound built for our use, and make sure that headquarters sends in a company to bolster the security of the island” Felix nodded and replied “good to hear” Felix looked at Taib and nodded “I’m commander Felix, I hope our presence here doesn’t disrupt business here to much” he smiled lightly as he addressed Taib.  

[Red Gypsy]

Wolfe Garm

Hot Champion_of_justice

The bears finally finished up their meal and politely stacked up their dishes to make it easier for the staff to clean them up. The one called Doc looked at each of them, "Razor, why don't you take the girls out to walk around the market for a bit. I'm headed over to the tavern to find Rex and find out where I'll be needed. Tiny, Dix, you two go check on the next boat, see when it's coming in. Then you can move around the marketplace with Razor and the girls. Make sure that they have escort at all times. Widow, Ginger, you two see what might be needed here. You'll be able to figure out if we're needed here more or if we'll do better somewhere else," he instructed, easily taking up his job as Pop's Beta. Thankfully, no one protested it.

He gave them all a nod and led the way out. Thankfully, while they could be a little intimidating, they were nowhere as bad as Griz. None of them met Griz in muscle mass or sheer size. Their bears were all smaller than Griz's as well. Then again, Griz was a recessive...

Among the bears here, the girls were perfect matches for their males. Pops was a grizzly, as was Widow. Razor and Ginger were black bears. Dix and Tiny were a large brown bear, easily the size of that one bear that had been in so many movies way back when, a larger species of grizzly but still a different breed. Doc was a polar bear. Each of them had their role in the den and none of them had a problem with it.

Doc was also unusual among the bears because he was a healer that had conventional medical training. Yes, he'd gone to medical school before the volcanoes had shot the world to crap. He'd also gotten a second degree in veterinary medicine. Made sense since he'd be working on shifters. At least, he'd thought so at the time.

Then the world went to hell and he'd just focused on surviving. Somewhere in there, Pops had found him and brought him in. That was pretty much the story with all of them. As far as he knew, they were the first full Den of bears in known history. Most bears were more into solitary life than gathering in groups to live together. For a while, they were all on motorcycles, roaming the world together. Then the volcanoes happened and Pops pulled them into the mountains in Canada. It was the only way they'd survived.

Well, that and Griz...

He shook his head as he let the females go out first and cleared his head. He had to find a certain lumberjack-turned-bartender and offer his skills, not make a trip down memory lane....

((Bears Exit))  

[Hot Champion_of_justice]

Wolf garm

red gypsy

Taib made a few mental notes about what they could see from Emilia's ledger before she politely closed it. If Taib was correct, certain areas of the Island lacked security measures and personnel. Not an easy thing to remedy as volunteerism for security was not very high on anyone's list, not since the murders and thefts going around.

Taib looked over as an unknown patron walked in and right over.

Another Warden from the outfit and stride.

Taib listened as the one named Felix, spoke of a possible small garrison base and outside help. A good start to hopefully getting the island back on track to being the once sought out paradise that was safe for anyone to reside on

They gave a polite nod and smile to Felix.

"Business will not be disrupted by your presence. In fact it might help people realize that it's ok to try and go out and about with their business without having to worry."

Taib was about to say something when the noticed the cook had come out and wave them over. Taib gave a nod to them as the man went back behind the kitchen door.

"Should you and your staff need anything, please feel free to reach out to me. If you need temporary rooms and want to eat here, I will be sure to help you out as you are both here to help with the Island. If you will excuse me?"

Taib gave a small bow to them both before disappearing into the back.  

[Red Gypsy]

Hot Champion_of_justice

Wolf garm

While Taib was busy, Dix the WereBear ran in through the door and headed upstairs then came right back down with three bags and left. The staff whispered over that bit, not sure what was going on. After a few minutes, they got back to work without issue.

After about an hour, Rex showed up. He moved in just as Taib came back in from the kitchen, "Ah, Taib... The bears are over taking care of Cassius. Seems that the idiots went after him again. The bears got there in time but the mermaid is going to be down for a few days. Doc said he'll need a babysitter here and there and I said that you'd know who to send over. You know the islanders better than I do some days. We just need someone that can keep Cassius in bed when whoever is watching him is over there. You know how stubborn Cass can be. I'm arranging supplies for the place. Two of the bears are working on fixing the place up. We just need a babysitter or two who can take turns sitting on him," he said simply then gave a shrug of one shoulder.

"I'm talking to Titus about them keeping a closer look on Cass' place since these idiots seem particularly interested in killing Cass," he added, hoping that Taib would be able to help with a couple of suggestions.