“Tell me what the bar is called. You'll have to excuse me if I don't drink too much." Prisca laughs abashedly.
"Oh no, Dzan and Ajax are not going to like that… They're very dedicated to the spirit world, Prisca." Angelidis shakes her head.
"Wh– Come on, Jelli, Ajax isn't that much of a drunk…" Shaula complains, though she can’t quite get herself to believe her own words. Ever since coming to this world, he’s enjoyed alcohol as a way to give him a reasonable buzz and forget his old home for a few minutes (or seconds).
Even with his healing factor, all he has to do now is use his matter moving power in order to increase his susceptibility to alcohol’s effects. For reasons he and Shaula have yet to uncover, their ability to move objects through space dampens their natural healing abilities along with some of their other powers. This, in turn, allows their brains to be more susceptible to alcohol’s effects.
Normally it takes either a lot of uses of Ajax’s power or a lot of alcohol to give him a good buzz. For that reason, Dzan thinks of Ajax as an experienced drinker, a connoisseur. Ajax has yet to update Dzan on this misconception and Shaula doesn’t really care enough to correct it.
Prisca waits while Angelidis describes their bar’s location to her as well as times when she and the group would commonly meet to spend time together, usually late into the night due to their professions. In case they missed each other, Angelidis tells her to leave a note with the bartender.
Prisca doesn’t truly have an issue with the meeting times either nor does she have much to say about what she assumes to be Angelidis’s job. She’s not an idiot and is able to read between the lines. Still, in this world, people can only do what they need to do.
“I’ll be sure to drop by once in a while. I know Barden’s more nervous about us being friends but I’ve learned to trust my own instincts once in a while.”
“Hey, it’s alright. It’s fair for him to not trust me, though I will say that I’m not a noble. The only thing I can’t say however is what I really am, so just think of me as someone from a village out in the Ystrian wilderness, one you’ve never heard of before with a lot of interesting stories to tell.”
“Oh yeah, the stories, you should have heard her tell the story of the “war to end all wars” and the war after that one. Honestly, it’s weird the first of those two wars has that name, doesn’t it?” Angelidis asks.
“The author wasn’t very good with names, what can I say?” Shaula surmises. Though she was speaking about the actual war to end all wars that she had learned about back in her history classes, Shaula had decided to pretend as if her retelling of the war was nothing more than an unknown author’s wild story.
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Still better than mentioning Earth and all it entails, I guess.
With that, Shaula and Angelidis let Prisca go home.
“Goodbye, you two. Thanks for all the help today!” Prisca smiles warmly.
Angelidis and Shaula wave her off as she groups with Cel and Sito before the three of them leave the area. The demihuman crowds have mostly disappeared by this point, but there are still plenty of humans who are gathered around the side street leading to the area where the Twin Moons had gone. Shaula wants to explore the area as soon as possible.
However, Angelidis wants to ask her something before that.
“Shaula, do you know where Dzan and Sigvor went? Where is Ajax for that matter?” Angelidis asks, slightly curious about what Shaula knows on the matter. She’s also looking at the sidestreet, wanting to know what Shaula knows about that as well. She can tell that there has been some kind of incident, one that requires a few guards to stick around.
However, Angelidis somewhat underestimates the scope of the incident because of how few city guards are crawling around the area right now.
Shaula knows that the guards have all been called away due to the deaths of the Captain and his sergeants, down to the last man. She sighs as she considers how she can convince Angelidis not to follow her into the gruesome scene up ahead. Unlike Angelidis, she can smell the scent of burnt flesh and boiled blood.
She's already realized that there's more death than the young draconid woman would want to handle.
"Jelli… don't worry about the three of them for now. Actually. I think it's time for you to head home for today as well. There is something that I have to deal with. You're my friend, Jelli, you're my true friend, which is why I'm not going to let you get hurt right now. Go home, or go visit your brothers. Go see Spark. You… You can relax for now, alright?"
Shaula gives Angelidis a warm embrace. Angelidis is surprised for a moment but hugs her back. She didn't worry at all about applying too much strength or accidentally hurting her with her claws. She just didn't know what was going on.
"Shaula… *sigh* I guess I do owe you for how far you went to save Barden. You know, I could tell you weren't going so far just for him, right? Or am I being too presumptuous?" Angelidis smirks.
“N-No, I wouldn't say you were off the mark, I did put in some extra effort because of your respect for the old guy, you know?”
“...Fine. I don’t like you keeping me out of whatever it is you're working on, but I'll be a good girl and go spend time with… my brothers. I'll visit them and mom and have a good night's sleep today. Honestly, talking with Barden about dad… Well, I guess it made me a bit homesick. Be well, Shaula."
“You too, Jelli, you too. Say hi to your family for me.”
“I will.”
Shaula smiles softly at the warmth of Angelidis' care. Making a new friend is quite nice, it turns out. It's something like this that makes this whole day and its ordeal worthwhile.