Ivalice was great. Her new self was great. She'd even snagged an awesome base for her clan (also great). Her clan was powerful now and, unfortunatly, didn't really need her around anymore. Basically, Jeris was getting bored and lonely. She needed to find herself a partner.
Not a sidekick or even a lover, just someone to drag along with her as a sort of partner in crime. Someone to chat and conspire with. A good swordarm to keep beside her even when the entire clan is out on dispatch. But who?
The best combination for her would probably be a male, heavy-hitter to balance out her more magick based assault, but at the moment she'd take anything. She glanced about the tavern and for possible candidates. Not a whole lot of choices here. Most people were already settled into groups of 3 or more except the stray merchant or some hume streetears. Hmm... this could take awhile. She picked up a drink at the bar and took a seat in one of the raised areas for a better view.
As she sipped she scanned the crowd. The tavern was somewhat busy today, so though there were few loners there were still several prospects. It was an hour before she'd settled on two possible choices: a strong, muscled humeman and a more lithe one that, though kinda thin, looked like he could still pack a mean punch. She approached the second one first.
"Heeey there bay-beh! W-h-hey! Where yuh goin' ?" No. Thank you. She'll try the other one. As she crossed the tavern floor to his table, he looked up expectantly. Jeris smiled warmly and opened her mouth as he stood- ...and greeted his two buddies as they cut past her and sat across from him. Damn. Hmph. She kept walking and fell heavily against the nearest counter and sighed. This was definantly going to take a while.
Returning to the raised area she discovered that her seat had been stolen while she was away. Yet another small let down. Well, forget this, there were other taverns. And to another she'd be going. That's... how it went for a week. By Thursday her hopes were pretty low that she'd find a partner to hook up with like this. Twice she'd picked out some candidates but stood and watched from afar instead of approaching and potentially embarassing herself. Everytime, like clockwork they'd either spotted their companians across the bar or had been joined by them at their table. Very disappointing every time.
Today she'd grabbed herself the perfect spot in a raised part of the tavern, far enough back that she could see the whole establishment, but close enough to the stairs that the servers could be snagged often enough to keep her drinks full. Right now she needed them, too. Her head on her folded arms, slumped over on the table, she unenthusiastically eyed the days choices like a depressed canine. Her prospects were indeed looking bleak, as fewer and fewer singles were showing up in the crowd.
As she watched and waited, yet again, the newbie soldier she'd been monitering glanced up after just a few minutes and greeted his friend who, uh, happened to be a girl. Great, double let down there. Well, nothing to do but look for another. ::Sigh:: It takes a while to spot another single, but sitting inconspicuously at an out of the way table is a shirtless bangaa. She can't quite tell what job class he is and he's very quiet, just keeping to himself, focused on his drink in a way someone expecting others wouldn't do. Hm, well she hadn't been looking for a bangaa but she didn't have a problem with that. As long as it wasn't a nu mou or a seeq she didn't really care what race he was.
So after watching to confirm that he was indeed alone, she planned out how to approach him. His drink was low, maybe she'd buy him another. But... what do bangaa usually order? It's easy to pick out a girly drink or something to put proverbial hair on one's chest, but surely scalies have different tastes than squishy mammilians? Just another hurdle to jump... She took the barman's recomendation and orders a Clear Sky (a nice healthy Agua Galac sweetened with Clear Sap; a nonoffensive drink anyone would like!), then saunters up to his corner of the tavern. "Hey, what's up? Are you waiting for someone, 'cuz I could keep you company... Here, I ordered two but I'm not that thirsty. You'll like it I'm sure." "Erm, sure, thanks... uh, I guess. Have a seat." "Thanks! I'm Jeris, by the way." "Er, names Erté. (air-tay)" "Very pleased to meet you Erté." And with that the conversation ended. Jeris turned out to watch the crowd and Erté went back to staring into his drinks. That's how they met and how the rest of the night went. A few hours later the tavern's lights dimmed signaling that it was time to get out.
"If you've no prior arrangements I'm looking for a partner. Nothing overtly dangerous but very rewarding in the long run." "Sure. You can sell me in the morning."