As promised, Tai lead them to an Inn after a short time of wandering. A cute little wood cabin style tavern sat lining the edge of a thick forest looking area. Smoke fluffed out of the tall chimney at the top of the cute looking building.
It looked comfortable and inviting. "Finally," Ruby sighs, "took long enough."
"You don't have much patience, do you?" Tai asked, turning at her with a curious look. This got him a glare and a punch in the arm. "Oww! Okay, I get it! You're angry when you're hungry."
"Let's just go inside." She grumbles, grabbing the sleeve of his tunic and pulling him onward toward the Inn. The Inn was as adorable as the outside, at least to Ruby. The entryway and bar of the little tavern was well lit with torches and light fixtures, and very clean looking. The elves kept it very clean.
There weren't many in the building, aside from a few goblins, and hunters sitting at a few small tables.
Ruby let herself relax a bit, tired and grumpy from having to follow Tai aimlessly for the past half an hour. She pulled Tai along with her as she walked to the bar, where a tall elf stood cleaning the top.
"Good afternoon," The elf says. "What can I get for you?"
"Whatever's on your breakfast menu and some tea, please?" Ruby asked as she sat down on one of the stools.
Tai sat on the one next to her. "I'll have the same, but coffee, if you carry it."
"Of course. "What kind of meat would you like? Deer, Rabbit, fish or chicken?"
"Rabbit, please." Ruby says, slouching a bit over the edge of the bar counter.
"I'll have Deer." Tai says, looking at Ruby. Rabbit didn't sound appetizing to him at all. Quite frankly, it sounded disgusting.
"Alright, I'll have it ready shortly. I'll be back in a minute with your drinks." The elven man disappears into the taverns kitchen to get what they ordered.
Ruby pulled out a gold bag, counting out what she had to pay for their food.
"No no, let me pay. Don't waste your gold here." Tai insisted, pulling out his own gold bag. Ruby just looked at him, holding her bag in her hands.
"I'll pay for my own food, than." She says, continuing to dig into the bag.
"Nope!" He snatches the bag from her before she could attempt, causing a few gold pieces to clatter to the floor below them.
"Hey!" She looks at him with narrowed eyes. "That was uncalled for." She slides off the barstool and picks up the gold that fell.
"I'm paying. Come on, Ruby. Just this once, let me pay for a meal. I won't try it again~" He wavers the gold bag out to her, taunting her playfully.
With a scowl knitted tightly to her face, she snatched her gold bag back and stuffed it into her satchel. "Fine…" She grumbles in irritation as she climbs back up onto the barstool. "But just this once. I won't let you pay for my food next time."
He smiles at his little victory and pulls out the required coin, placing it down on the counter top. "We'll see, now won't we?" He asks in a playful tone, smiling at the irritated look she gave him.
"Try and relax a bit, won't you, Ruby? We'll stay here for the night, and then in the morning tomorrow, we can get supplies and start hiking." Tai leans against the bar counter, arms folded over top. "Then adventure through and maybe settle somewhere for a while." He shrugs as he speaks, resting his chin in his palm. He watched as Ruby turns her head to look at him, her pale sapphire gaze on him.
She sighs and shrugs. "Sounds good to me. I have nothing better to do, so let's do it."
He smiles at her and sits up straight. "Great!"
She looks at him with a questioning curiosity. "You seem awfully excited about that idea." She says, crossing her legs. "Why is that?"
"Well, now if I told you, than that wouldn't be any fun!" He grins ear to ear, reacting another curious look from Ruby.
"Is that so?" She asked with a tone of suspicion in her tone.
"I'm joking!" He laughs. "I'll be honest, you're interesting. And I want to know you. Adventuring with you will help me know you." He smiles fondly at her. "Where you come from, and who you seem to be are curious, and I want to figure it out. Can't do that if we aren't travel companions."
"Sooo in other words, you only want to travel with me because things about me are interesting?" She asked, raising a brow.
"Not only that. But you also seem like a charming and charismatic person. Someone I'd love to spend my time around." He says. "Someone who may even match my level of charm." He winks at her.
She rolls her eyes at him, but smiles regardless. "I suppose. I am curious about you too, Mr. Vellore. About the world you come from, what you are, more specifically."
"I'm a tiefling." He says simply.
"A what...?"
"A tiefling." He repeats. "Tieflings are typically known for being humans with demonic ancestry." He explains. "Pretty straight forward."
"I… Don't get it." She says. "But I guess that makes some sense? Explains the horns and tail."
Tai gives his long, thin tail a little flick as she looks at it, giving emphasis on the fact he had a tail.
"You'll need to explain… This… More a bit later on, I'm very curious." She says.
"So long as you tell me about your lineage?" He asked, gesturing to the bindings on her arms. What she had told him were traditional tattooing.
She was hesitant, but nodded. "Sure." She says, sighing softly. "I'll tell you anything you'd like to know about where I come from."
Satisfied with that, he dropped the subject.
The two of them chatted for some time about what they'd wanted to do while in Morendail.
They ate the food that was brought to them, more than happy to eat something other than fish for once. Tai mostly watched Ruby eat; the satisfied, content look on her face as she ate her roasted rabbit was almost adorable. He couldn't stop himself from smiling.
Ruby however, was far too focused on her food to pay any attention to Tai or what he was doing. If she ever ate fish again, it would be too soon. The sweet, juicy flavour of the rabbit she ate was almost too good to be true. Today was turning out to be a really good day. And she liked it. Not only was she free from the isolation of her home, she was free to do as she wanted. See who she wanted; eat what she wanted to eat. She was free to drink if she so pleased.
She looked at Tai to ask him something, but stopped when she saw the look on his face. "What?"
"… What?" He snapped out of whatever thought he seemed to be in and straightened a bit, giving her a questioning look.
"You're just staring at me." She says, taking a sip of her drink. "Why?"
"Oh, sorry." He laughs dryly. "Guess I kind of zoned out." He scratches the back of his head shyly, picking up his cup of coffee.
"Ookay." She says, slowly going back to eating. "Oh, I was going to ask..." She swallows the bit of food in her mouth before turning to him. "I've… Never really been all that free to do as I pleased back home, so I was just sort of wondering what sorts of things it is free people do...?" She asked him shyly. Was that a weird thing to ask a person? She didn't know, but asked it anyways. May as well, right?
He seemed to think about that for a moment, considering the question at hand. "Hmm. That's quite the loaded question, Mr. Ruby." He says. "As you said, you're free. So you're more or less free to do anything you want. Within reason, of course."
She leans back a bit, holding onto the edge of the counter as she does. "Hmm. Anything, huh? That gives me a whole lot of wiggle room." She laughs.
"You can be whoever and whatever you want to be. You could be a hunter, you could be a bandit, you could be an adventurer, or mercenary." He says.
"And what are you, of those things?"
"Me? I'm more of the adventuring type. But I'll take mercenary work if it's offered up." He smiled, seeming rather proud of himself for that fact.
His cockiness and proud nature made her laugh a bit. "Well, Mr. Adventurer, what are the perks of being such?"
"The perks of being an adventurer?" He asked, smiling. "You're free to do what you want, go where you want. You can explore caves and dungeons and fight monsters. Save people from trouble, and have fun doing it." He says, smiling. "I've been all over this great world of Fenian, and I have no regrets. All I've done and seen has all been worth it. Every second has been everything I could possibly dream of."
Ruby listened to him speak, fascinated by the concept. An adventurer sounded like a real, great thing, and sounded easy enough to accomplish. "Would… Would I be able to be an adventurer too?" She realized how ridiculous that sounded, but she was genuinely curious, and wanted to try to be just that.
Tai just smiled and nodded to her. "I gotta tell you, Mrs. Ruby. I think you already are an adventurer." He says with a chipper tone.
She looked surprised for a moment before thinking about it, and then smiling. "Yes!" She threw her fists into the air.
Tai couldn't hold back the burst of laughter at her childish reaction, making Ruby laugh too. Others in the Inn began to look at the two as they laugh and giggle to themselves. They were acting childish and silly, but neither cared in that moment.