* Cal's ears perk up suddenly, and he smiles mischievously at Aslaina *

"Hold that thought, please." *slides over to the bar and plops down into the seat right next to Alana. He leans forward into her line of sight* "Good morning starshine! I'm Cal, and you are?" *extends a friendly hand*

Alana looked at him a moment and frowned "I'm guessing you didnt hear the no small talk I dont like to talk to people comment. So Ill say it again. I dont do talking to others and I dont want any friends."

*Cal keeps smiling, and then says to her in fluent Elvish:* "Are you sure about that?"

Alana jumped at the sound of his voice speaking her native language "I thought that that language had been long ago forgotten. How did you learn to speak it?" She asked suddenly defensive "Who taught you?"

* Cal's eye glinted with confidence as he launched into his story *

"Well, on the far side of this world, far removed from beyond the horizon of the next nearest piece of land, is a small continent called Trælia. It's where I was born. Once, long ago, all the humanoid species - and even the dragons - got along just fine together, sharing culture and language freely." *his eyes darken slightly* "Then the humans decided to go nazi apeshit and eradicate everyone else. It was a massacre. After a quick but very bloody war, the new purely human government covered it all up, said that the elves and dwarves and even magic was all just a myth. After a century or two, everyone believed them." *His eyes glinted in the light again* "But there had been survivors, several in fact. They had pooled their remaining magic to whisk themselves away to an island they created, just off of the horizon to the east. They spent those couple of centuries building up a resistance, to take back the land that was once theirs. My father was a double agent for them in the human government, and a couple years ago he let me in on the whole thing. As it turns out, the woman I was raised by was not my mother." *he smiles, and finishes in Elvish* "My mother was a half-elf."

She giggled a smile on her face "Its nice to know Im not the only one left. Im on a quest to find something precious to our heritage. If I suceed Then the elves may just reappear. The stupid humans ruin everything. They destroyed all of us because we were more talented and better at stuff. I have a serious hatred for humans."

She put out her hand "I am Alana Vartos, Would be ruler of the elves if we still existed."

* He shakes her hand firmly with a big smile on his face *

"I'm Calvin Kepter, the SpírìtCatcher. You can call me Cal. I'm also sort of the last of a kind; my Mom was half elf, and half Trælian Sage. The last sage blood in the world flows in my veins. If you want, I can point you in the direction of Trælia, you could maybe look for the Elves who live there? I'd recommend not mentioning me though, I was framed for a rather huge crime and very few people there like me anymore... luckily it seems what little legacy of the SpírìtCatcher that has escaped has been positive, judging by Sy's reaction." *smiles* "You should ask for Jessica Lyàmen, she was in the resistance with me and is almost certainly part of the new government by now."

Alana nodded making not of the name of the town and the place "I just might stop by. I dont need directions as you should know elves are better than a map. We know just about every place there is."

She stood up and motioned for him to follow her outside for a moment

"Theres somthing you should see."

* A quizzical look passes across his face, but he gets up and follows *

Alana stopped about ten feet from the inn and took out a torch and a piece of paper. She used her flint to light the torch and handed it to him to hold as she unfolded the paper. She showed him the drawing on it.

It looked like a rock with an elven inscription that said "Ye who yeilds this stone shall know what fortook us elves." Close to the inscription was somthing that looked like a map. But difficult to make out.

"Its the last elven item that ever got lost. I am hoping this will help me to remember our heritage. There must be a reason why things happened as they did. I have to find out where the elves went."

* Cal eyes it quizzically *

"You know, this alphabet is different from the one I'm used to... I mean, it's readable, but a different dialect. I think the Elves you're looking for are probably only distantly related to the Trælian elves, like far removed cousins or something." *he looks her in the eye* "I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. I don't recognize that stone at all. I could maybe analyze it with the SEF Gems, see if they know anything?"

((The SEF Gems basically hold a hive-mind collection of Spírìts within them, which feed on human emotions for energy and tap into the very magical essence of the planet, as well as that of the user if he/she has any [being the last Trælian Sage, Cal has quite a bit]. Since you're the one who knows your backstory, if Alana has Cal run the analysis you'd take control of what they find out, if anything.))

((kk Alana will give him her history before they go look so you can help))

Alana looked at him her eyes joyful for once. "Would you care to hear how this all came to be and what I know of our ancestry?" She asked him.

* Cal smiled, genuine joy and compassion behind his eyes *

"I would love to. Shall we sit?"

* He waves a hand. A large fuzzy green bean-bag chair appears behind him, which he flops into. Her very favorite thing to relaxedly sit on appears behind her. *

((lol funny my favorite thing))
A genuinly hand carved elvin throne appeared behind her. She looked at it a moment and gave him a quizzical look before sitting down.

"My story begins long ago. When I was a child there were many elves. That was over 500 years ago. We elves live very long lives. When I got older the humans found our kingdom of Dyplacanian. They attacked us in many numbers. We had no choice but to run. I watched as a human killed both of my parents. It was the worst time I had ever known."

A tear ran down her cheek as she continued

"When I woke up I found myself alone in a shed tied to a pole. The humans had captured me. They trained me in the art of dance and sold me to some king to be his entertainer. I made friends with a guard named Jeffrey. He was the nicest human I had ever known and I came to love him."

Her face grew brighter as she told of her love for him.

" We ran away together. We ran far away. We hoped to make a new life just him and I. One night as we slept the king sent guards who killed jeffrey and took me back. I may have been his slave again but soon I would cause his undoing. I trained myself in archery during my free time and when the time was right I killed the king. After that I had to run. With my new training I became an assassin and very good at it. I loved to kill. I felt that killing humans was a way to avenge my Jeffrey. When I found out about this stone on one of my kills I started on this quest. And this is where we are now."

She finished her voice turning monotone again. She looked down at the ground throughout the story. The sorrow she felt apparent in her expression.

((now that is abackground story ftw))

((yes it is, very nice!))

* Cal listens, enraptured, through the whole thing. He literally sheds a tear at the part where her parents died, but he seemed a bit uncomfortable with the part about revenge and enjoying killing, almost like it hit a little too close to home somehow *

"Well, I'd love to help you search, but first I have a couple questions: Is the stone magical? Did you ever see or touch the stone? Did you know anybody who did?" *Suddenly he seems to remember something* "Oh, crap, the hot tub! If we're going to go out on a quest, I really should finish that first. After you answer me, I should get back to that for a few hours, then maybe we can start out tomorrow. *he realizes his imposition* "That is, if you want me to come. Sorry, I tend to get a little ahead of myself sometimes." *sheepish grin*

She smiled "I would welcome your company Cal. And no I've never seen it nor touched it all I have to go on is this paper. Now perhaps we should head back inside."

((if we are going on a quest should we make our own role play in the 1 on 1 part of the thread. Since we are leaving the inn.))

Zake and Kliff emerge carrying everyones food and say together, "Foods on come and get what you ordered!" The laughed as they set the plates down on the bar.

They returned to the kitchen to make there own food, Hot mild bowl with a bowl of ground warmed meat (not cooked through) and turned into cats to eat it purring deeply.

((Good idea. I'm going to log off for a bit, I'll be back on later tonight))

"Yeah, I should get some more work done on the tub. But it was very nice talking with you; we can work out quest details later?" *smile* "Bye!"

* There is a loud >POOF< and a burst of teal-green smoke, and Cal is gone. A few moments later sounds of construction can be heard from the soon-to-be hot-tub-room again *

Anora begins scarfing down her food. She glances up at Zake and Kliff. "Delicious. My complements, guys." She digs in, almost inhaling the contents of her breakfast. As she finishes, she wipes her mouth and glances up at them again. "So, what's your guy's story?"

Alana returned inside to her barstool and went to work on her salad. It was delicious indeed.

* The sounds of construction abruptly stop midway through what sounds like a rotary saw -- no wind down, just sudden silence -- as Cal bursts out of the room *

"Oh right! I forgot about breakfast!" *with a poof of teal-green smoke, he is suddenly sitting at the bar, oversized fork and knife in his hands with a large tacky red-and-white-checkered napkin tied around his neck* "So, chef Zake, whaddaya got for me today?"

Sy shimmers into her human form, and sits on the mantle.
"You know, its rather comfy up here... could one of you loves be a dear and pass me a bottle of whiskey?" she calls softly, as the fire grows, warming her bare feet.

((Problem IF you missed it Zake and Kliff are in Cat form eating there own breakfast they made whatever any one wanted and set it on the counter. they are in the kitchen.

Proof

They returned to the kitchen to make there own food, Hot mild bowl with a bowl of ground warmed meat (not cooked through) and turned into cats to eat it purring deeply

.))

* Cal waits patiently for about ten seconds longer than any reasonable person would for an answer from someone who isn't there, then shrugs and dives into whatever it is Zake made for him *

((Remember, Cal didn't make a specific order, he said

"As long as it's got some kind of meat and some kind of egg I'll eat it and enjoy it!"

and left it up to Zake to be creative))

"Mmmm, delicious!" he says through a mouthful of breakfast. "Oh, and here you go." *Passes Sy the whiskey bottle*

Alana finished her food and took off to her room. She packed up all her stuff and loaded it into her backpack. She went back in the inn and put the key on the counter. "Thanks for the hospitality. How much do I owe you sy?"