"Kyran... a rather unique name, I have not heard of it." Speaking in a confused tone of voice his gaze drops to the still hunched over patron, his voice echoes within the room because only a single patron exists within it. Orpheus pauses for a moment before meeting the bartender's gaze, his almost annoyed expression appears as if an intense desire to not speak existed.
Shuttering these feelings aside he holds his desire to rebuke the man's curiosity and responds in a now lighter tone. "It's Valintiyan by virtue of his father, who hailed from the Valintiyan Republic, a merchant I think he was." Orpheus speaks now with a monotone voice, dispensing information from his own past to a complete stranger.
The bartender nodded in agreement with the words his patron just spoke as if he had known all along. His expression suddenly changes as he pulls himself up and grasps another unclean tankard on the bar for cleaning. "Ah the Valintiyan Republic... never been myself, I hear it's a trader's paradise but little old me is sadly landlocked to this humble establishment." With his right hand grasping the tankard and left draping a rag around it in a fluid motion, his eyes dart from side to side inspecting the room.
Orpheus still with a sorrowful look speaks once more with a soft and saddened tone of voice. "Yes, me neither, I always wanted to visit someday with Kyran, but I guess that is not an option now." His gaze peers down into the half-full tankard before him, his desires enflame with a need to dull his senses further with its entire contents. Casting those thoughts to the back of his mind, he lifts his gaze to the friendly bartender, Orpheus's eyes confused and confounded. "Wait a minute, why are you being so nice all of the sudden." His confusion over the sudden change of the bartender's demeanour concerned him. "Before you acted like you wanted to throw me out of the tavern on a whim." He follows up with this statement whilst expecting an answer to explain his change in behaviour.
The bartender smiles for a moment before chuckling slightly, his hands still at work cleaning the tankard during his laughter, pausing for a moment then makes a comment. "Ah that, well, to be honest, that was an act for the troublesome customers I usually have." With his gaze peering to the left away from his patron, with his head jerked to the left he speaks in a repentant tone. Turing his gaze back to the man before him he speaks up again as he follows his prior comment with another. "But you look like a decent and honest customer." His tone of voice changes to a softer and gentler tone as if speaking to a friend.
Orpheus eyes widen at his statement with his gaze rising to meet his, with a slight smirk he replies. "Well thank you." As he replies his dark thoughts begin to churn, bridging the gap between his visage and his true nature. "You couldn't be more wrong my friend, I'm neither decent nor honest." He thinks to himself whilst maintaining a positive and smiling presence to the nice bartender, his thoughts pick up once more. "Yes, I'm not a good person, I'm just a killer a coldblooded killer." His face dips once more in a self-pitying pose that the bartender notices and speaks up.
"Come on my friend tell me about Kyran, how did you meet him?" The nice bartender asks as if anticipating Orpheus's gloomy feelings and attempts to distract him. Still washing the tankard with his rag far beyond the necessary amount of care, he waits patiently for a reply. Orpheus pauses as he sighs for a moment to reclaim his bearings, lifts his gaze with a heavy heart to regal the man with a story.
Before Orpheus revealed the truth of his past, he pondered on the risks of such a thing, concern enveloped his mind as his thoughts grasped the consequences. "Should I tell him the truth or keep with the lies and falsehoods." Pondering this dilemma, he squeezed the tankard handle so hard it may break, bringing the drink to his lips he skulls the contents until none remain. "I grow tired of lying, I have been lying for years." With his mind made up, he drops the tankard to the bar and passes his gaze to the curious man before him.
Orpheus gulped as if he had not fully embraced the idea, a moment passes as he casts those thoughts aside and takes a risky chance. "I meet him when I was a child, we lived in a small orphanage that once resided west of the Capitol." With his voice now softer and of greater sincerity, he had spoken with an unfamiliar taste of honesty he had not partaken in many years.
With the tragic tone of his words piercing the soft-hearted bartender, he speaks up with his voice guided to a touchy subject. "I see, the unfortunate reality of our country recovering from war, it tends to fill orphanages to the brim." His understanding and sympathetic words break from the bartender's mind, spurring pure empathy across his face. Placing the washed tankard aside, he picks up a large jug of mead to his right and pours a substantial amount in Orpheus's tankard.
Orpheus snaps out from his gloomy and saddened state to witness the addition to his drink, realizing the man's actions he turns to his right to grab additional funds for the drink. The bartender quickly waves his hand to gesture a cease in the man's actions as he speaks. "It's okay my friend, this one is on the house." He speaks with a mild smile on his face and a positive air about him.
Orpheus witnessing his action quickly removed his hand from his belt bag and then placed them on the bar palms set downwards. "Thank you." Orpheus replies with a mild smile of gratitude on his face, shifting his right hand to the tankard he grasps the handle tightly. The bartender gazes at the now filled tankard with a soft and sincere expression, he then places the washed tankard on the bar and begins to fill it to the brim. In response to this Orpheus raises his drink in the air as the bartender follows suit, with both their drinks suspended above, he begins to recite a religious rite. "May the wise and merciful Goddess Vera grant our dearly departed Kyran, peace within her embrace." Orpheus nods in acceptance as their tankards clash together before they both drink large gulps of mead.
They both exhale large breaths as they remove their drinks from there wet lips and place the tankards back onto the bar. Orpheus eventually comes to his senses as he realises the oddness of the bartender's actions and asks a simple question. "Should you really be partaking of your own wares?" A cheeky smile crosses his face as he curves his left eyebrow and tilts his head to the left sarcastically.
The bartender chuckles at his question as he wipes the excess mead from his lips with his right sleeve. Calming down slightly he centres his vision to the man before him and responds to his question with a cheerful expression. "True it is a bad tavern keeper to drink up his own wares, but in this case, I can make an exception." The cheerful glee of his face begins to warm Orpheus's cold heart, if only a little, and without him realising it, a true and honest smile begins to emerge. The bartender witnessing a change to the previous sombre air begins to assist this emergence with more sincere words. "Please continue, tell me more about this friend of yours." He places both his palms on the table with his tankard within the centre, his back hunched forward slightly as he waits for Orpheus's reply.
Orpheus pauses for a moment as he exhales a short sigh, his smile was brighter than usual as the image of his old friend ingratiated itself within his mind. Spurned by an odd and unfamiliar desire to open up, the memories of his fallen friend began to flood to the forefront of his mind, ready to be spoken of fondly. "Well, he was... well for lack of a better term, he..." His words begin to stutter as the description of his friend was not so easily defined.
"He was an odd person." As his thoughts realigned, he spoke now with a positive air within his words. "Even as a child he would always know that right thing to say, even if you didn't want to hear it or barely understood it, his words were always comforting and warm." Orpheus's mind begins to reminisce as his cheerful words spring forth with a sombre tone underneath. "He had this way of pulling you in, no matter what was happening around you or how hard it would get, he would simply smile, and tell you that everything was going to be alright... and you would believe him, even if the world beckoned to prove him wrong... you would believe him."
The positive a cheerful depiction of the man resonated within the bartender's mind, with each word attributing to an ever-evolving perception. The image of a man he had never met and just now became aware of, soon developed into a pristine image of a kind and caring fellow. The bartender's eyes grew wider as he processed those words and with a subtle smile, he spoke up. "Well, now that sounds like quite the person, with that kind of personality I bet you were both fast friends." His assumption of Orpheus's and Kyran's relationship sprang forth with not a single drop of doubt in his words.
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Orpheus paused with a blank stare for a moment before suddenly erupting into cheerful laughter, the bartender's expression swiftly changed to confusion as Orpheus attempted to contain himself. His laughter slowly disappeared as he reaches for the tankard before him, grasping it softly he gulps it down, with a refreshed sigh he speaks once more. "Fast friends... of course not, I wanted to punch him right in his stupid cheerful face, ten seconds after meeting him." With a wide and ironically cheerful grin, he recalls his thoughts during his first meeting with Kyran.
The bartender after hearing these word remains utterly confused at the maniacal chuckling, but slowly he begins to chuckle as well. His desire to express himself now becomes too difficult to contain, grabbing the tankard he takes a big gulp and slams it against Orpheus's in the air. "You have some odd ways of making friends." He states while still smiling with subtle tones of laughter underneath, he leads into another question. "So how for the love of the gods, did you get from wanting to punch the man out, to moping in a bar over the man's death?" He states almost sarcastically.
Orpheus smiles at the gentlemen's retort, followed by a quick chuckle as the alcohol slightly dribbles from his mouth, quickly wiping it away with his left sleeve, he raises his gaze and replies. "Well, that tale is a long one, but sufficed to say the man grows on you, no matter the introduction." Staring directly into the bartender's eyes as his head sways left to right, he speaks in a positive and joyful tone.
The bartender curves his lips in an upside-down motion, similar to a frown sporting an expression clearly saying the words fair enough. Reasserting his position, he leans forward slightly as to speak once more with a curious look twinkling in his eye. "A long tale you say, I would very much like to hear this tale... respectfully." With an overwhelming desire to learn more emanating from his gaze and posture, Orpheus stares back with mild confusion but still a straight face.
With the man's proposition suddenly appearing before his eyes, the stoic Orpheus begins internally contemplating the risks of revealing the truth against furthering his life of lies. "Should I tell him the truth, if I do, he may tell someone else, leading to the leak of information that may contradict the hero's fabricated history." With this internal conflict swirling and swelling within his mind, he suddenly makes a snap judgement and decides immediately. "Spilling my guts to a complete stranger, wow Orpheus we have officially reached a new low." As he self-chastises himself for his actions, he grabs the tankard and gulps in more of the refreshing liquid.
With his gaze raised to the man before him, he smiles and begins to regal the man of this tale. "Well as you know I meet Kyran many years ago." Placing the tankard on the bar, he wipes his mouth with his right sleeve and speaks in a soft and trembling voice. His eye's brimming with a longing for a past he can never revisit, tilting his head to the right with his gaze cast to the tankard he continues with the bartender listening intently. "We meet for the first time at the Saint Gregory's Orphanage, it was just this little inconsequential place on the edge of Carningsby." His voice radiated sadness but with a hint of contempt as he clicked his tongue quietly, the bartender notices this and furrows his brow with a concerned expression.
The bartender continues to listen curiously as Orpheus further recounts his shadowy past. "Kyran had lost his entire family in a single night, butchered by bandits they said, killed his mother, father, brother and dragged off his elder sister to only the gods know where." Sympathy passes across the bartender's face as his facial features grower softer as the tale continues. Orpheus grasps the tankard once more and gulps the last of the alcohol in one go, gasping as he slams it down. "But the strangest thing about it is... he never let it change him" Speaking in a tone filled with admiration, his gaze rises and proudly centres towards the man in front of him. "On some level, I admired that, he witnessed everything that he ever loved get taken from him and he still remained the kind... and loving person he always was."
The bartender takes a long sip of his drink before being taken aback by the words Orpheus had just uttered, placing the tankard on the bar he begins to speak. "I don't think I could survive that; I don't know what I would do, nor what I would become if anything happened to my family." He places his hands firmly on the bar, gripping the underside tightly with his knuckles facing the roof, an expression of fear and sincerity emanates from his gaze.
Orpheus nods in agreement before continuing with his tale, his gaze dropping below before returning, now projecting a cold air about himself with a minuscule light of joy that suddenly radiates into existence. "Kyran was neither great nor powerful, there was nothing particularly special about him." Orpheus speaks with a sincere tone as his voice begins to crack and tremble with swelling emotions within. "He was just kind, irrevocably kind, no matter the hardship... or challenge, he would face it head-on with that stupid smile of his."
The emotions once welling within begin to burst forth has his head tilts forward and sadness begins to erupt. "He was so... kind, a type of kindness you can... you can just never hate, even in your wildest dreams." His eyes begin to water slightly as if he is on the verge of shedding a tear, he continues speaking with a pain in his heart. "And I never admitted it to him, but there was a moment when he placed his hand on my shoulder." Orpheus places his right hand gently on his left shoulder with his gaze passed to the right and staring off into the distance. "And he said it would all be alright... for a moment... I believed him." His eyes slowly became heavy as a single tear from his right eye, streams down his cheek, quickly Orpheus places both his hands on his face and wipes his eyes as if embarrassed.
The bartender looks sympathetically at the now weeping man before him, his expression remains unchanged as if witnessing an event, he had seen before many times. Straightening his back, he reaches forth with his right hand and firmly places it on Orpheus's left shoulder as if to comfort him. "It is okay my friend, loss is merely a fact of life in this world, don't be saddened by it, instead enjoy the memories of your fallen friend for as long as you are able, over a good fire, over a good drink, if you still remember them, then they yet live within your breast always." His words echoed forth within Orpheus's heart, a strange sensation he had not felt in years managed to surface once more. The man's words were filled with wisdom and experience that the triumph of age affords, lifting his gaze as his broken heart pulls itself together, he gazes at the friendly bartender's comforting face.
Orpheus smiles genuinely and without a single ounce of falsehood within that expression, with his gaze affixed to the man before him, he gasps for a moment and speaks again. "Well, it seems I have dampened the mood terribly, forgive me, sir?" Orpheus speaks with an apologetic tone with words that expressed a sombre desire.
The bartender furrowed his brow with the prospect of the man's words as he gives his answer. "There is no need for an apology my friend and drop the sir, my name is Gregory, I'm merely a humble tavern keeper." Withdrawing his hand from Orpheus's shoulder, Gregory bows his head respectfully, lifting his gaze a moment later he waits for a response.
Orpheus smile widens as he thrust's his right hand forward with his palm facing the left and fingers stretched forward for a handshake. Lingering there for a moment he gives his name in response to the respect the man has afforded to him. "Nice to meet you Gregory, my name is Orpheus." Without a second thought, Gregory grasps Orpheus's hand tightly with his right hand, his mind only fathoming the name and nothing else as he responds.
"It is a pleasure Orpheus." Speaking with a cheerful tone Gregory's mind suddenly snaps to a distant memory, the thought of a conversation he had with a traveller that had entered his tavern before. "Orpheus..." Gregory says with a suddenly confused and confounded expression, he pauses for a moment to collect himself as he continues to grasp the man's hand tightly. "You don't mean the hero who stood against an army of goblins that had attacked the kingdom and emerged victoriously." His starstruck expression poured forth as he spoke with an overwhelming vigour in his voice.
Orpheus smirked at the prospect of the man's words and immediately responded. "Of course, not Gregory, I'm no hero." Orpheus speaks with an honest and sincere tone with his eyes brimming with truth, regardless of the circumstance.
Gregory drops his gaze to the bar for a moment before chuckling with a cheerful tone as if Orpheus had just spoken a humorous anecdote. With his soft laughter reaching its end he speaks once more with his eyes softened by this sudden shift. "I see, of course... what would a prestigious mage like that, be doing in a place like this." He speaks with a jovial tone as his gaze darts from left to right as if surveying his own establishment.
Orpheus chuckles slightly in response to the current atmosphere within the room and comments on the topic at hand. "Don't sell yourself short, I'm sure this tavern is a hidden gem of the capital." His gaze rises to the ceiling as he turns his head from the left to the right as if examining his surroundings, a moment later he straightens his gaze to the before him and smiles.
Gregory smirks at the comment Orpheus had just made before replying in a humble manner. "Your too kind my friend." His smirk forms into a full-blown smile as they both sigh in relief, Orpheus gaze lowers in a sombre and saddened look, Gregory notices this, a few seconds later the delightful Gregory begins to speak once more. "Well that Kyran sounds like quite the friend, please tell me more." Gregory requests as he gestures his right hand forward with his palm positioned diagonally.
Orpheus pauses for a moment as the soothing memories of the past slowly begin to hinder his gloomy mindset, with his heart slowly being pulled from the deep pool of sadness. "Alright." He says in a now cavalier attitude as if speaking had suddenly become easier. "Where should I start." He asks in a low voice as if muttering to himself as he glances down to the empty tankard below.