Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jakkoa breathed out through his teeth, his smile practiced and bright for appearance purposes, but strained from his own perspective. The woman he’d ended up in conversation with had seemed promising. Eager to help, full of information, ready to talk—and talk, and talk, and talk. Of course, far be it from Jakkoa to judge a busy mouth, being very self aware of his own as it was, but the more this woman spoke, the less credible she seemed, and the more simply eager to engage anyone who would listen.

Elders often had that risk tethered to them and thus, it was only with great finagling that he eventually managed to extradite himself from the conversation. And flee.

Preferably as far for now from the elder generations as possible. In this case, that meant one of his most comfortable haunts: a local tavern. Humble and not especially crowded, he noted upon approach, but certainly lively enough—particularly for a Sauti town. And, as though to advertise itself by livening the place up, almost as soon as he stepped inside, there came a pluck of music from the small performing stage.

He wound his way towards the front counter at his own pace, gaze scanning the crowd as the music built and filled the air. By the time he made it to his destination, however, his eyes were on the singer.

‘Impossible to miss’ seemed like an understatement: between her rolling voice, the lively tune of her instrument, and the raw character and animation in her presentation, the mood of her song was infectious, and before long, Jakkoa found himself smiling. Not a practiced, intent-focused variety, but one that curved up onto his lips of its own regard and warmed his eyes.

She certainly had spirit. And energy.

More so than most tavern singers even, Jak might venture to say, and he found no shame in letting his eyes follow the swished curve of her skirt when she spun—or her various other curves when she moved to the music, and she seemed to always be. When her song finished, he adjusted his posture, shifting back to watch her as she came down from the stage. Whoever was following her would have some ground to cover in order to keep up.

But when her eyes caught his, winking outright, Jak found he didn’t especially much care who was on next. Instead, his lips were curving up at the invitation, and he slipped off of his seat, winding his way over instead to where she had sat herself.

“I have been through many a tavern,” he said, “but I can’t say I’ve ever seen a performance quite like yours. You have wonderful stage presence.”

“Certainly not a waste,” he agreed, “and you’re quite welcome.” At the gesture to the barhand, he smiled but shook his head. “Nothing alcoholic for me this evening, thank you, though the offer is much appreciated. I came more for the company and conversation…”

Glancing her way again as he settled to sit, he ventured a fleeting wink.

“And the entertainment value, of which there is much.” He held out a hand. “Jakkoa. From northern Sauti—sometimes, if it suits me. And who have I had the pleasure of meeting this evening?”

Jak smiled. “Well, you are certainly bringing it,” he said, “and I hope you find some as well. Delighted in turn. And…” He shrugged a shoulder, “…anything engaging, I suppose. I think there’s value in most conversations, though my traveling companion is of a different view and leaves me starved for it when we reach civilization.”

He glanced about the humble pub and its various patrons, most of them likely similarly travelers. Not the epicenter of modern development and social activity, but something.

“Such as it is, in any case. For the moment, I would love to know a little about you. Do you travel far to do your performances, or mostly in this area?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Jak said. “I’ve met some drunks who had very animated stories to tell. They may fall a touch shy of accurate and occasionally also lacking in coherency, but…” He tipped his head. “At least sometimes they manage not to be boring, and on very rare occasions have a few gems to share.”

At her latter comment, he raised his eyebrows. Granted, she didn’t give off the air of a world-renowned professional, but in equal measure she did strike him as fearless, full of the energy her talent gave her, and ready to share it with as many as she could. If not ‘everywhere’, it was still surprising that she had not traveled much further than their current roost.

“Main stage?” he repeated. “With as much as you have to offer, I’d think surely you’d have made it farther than this, but…I suppose, then, for a ‘start’ you are doing very well. I trust you won’t be lingering here forever?”

“Mm, I suppose not,” Jak admitted.

Drunks were not famed for their coherency and quite frankly, while it was occasionally useful if the goal was to catch someone saying something they might not otherwise, they were often rather useless in their incompetence. And sometimes — the highest crime of all — boring.

He tipped his head, though, at her latter admission, curious, but eventually opting to focus on the positives, and the question at hand. He met her smile with one of his own.

“I’ve traveled a good bit, particularly with my family. This is the first I’ve been out more or less on my own, but I’ve been through Zena, Sauti, and portions of Tale in the past. My favorites were always the livelier cities, which you don’t find especially much of here. Zidel, though, never had a boring moment once you got into the heart of it, and I imagine you’d find fuller and…” He hesitated, “…well, occasionally more generous pockets there. Generosity can be a scarcity among our northern cousins, but no one doesn’t appreciate a good show. If it’s too chilly for you there, though, you might find yourself running into me again in Tale? Not much going on in the great stretches of in between, but when you do find civilization, I’m sure there would be ample potential venues for putting on a performance.”

Jak watched her as she spoke, attention following her body language and amused interest lighting his expression. “I have no doubt you could,” he said, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine. There was certainly enough of her fill most dresses with some to spare, and Faamy struck him as a woman who would make the most of every bit.

“I suppose you could say I frequent Tale, yes. Though in the past it was mostly as part of my family’s business. Now, I am actually…looking for something. My sister has been unwell, and I’ve aimed to speak with as many regional healers as I can find. No one seems familiar with her particular ailment and…” He hesitated, not wanting to drag all of the mood down and offering a part-smile to n** the edge off the more concerning topic, “…well, I am still looking. So if you happened to have any friends with a gift for medicine or a particular fascination with strange diseases among your various other…” Jak gestured loosely to the ‘crowd’ of the bar, “…more typical fans, I would love to hear of them.”