Something More Destructive (Open)

[Briwan Dragain]

Gale wiped the sweat from his brow with a black sleeve. The fabric was rough against his forehead, but the man didn't mind. Light, but these coats were warm. It was the end of another long day and Gale was pretty sure he knew the perfect way to end it. Alcohol.

 

With Jas in tow, another Soldier he'd come to be friends with, the two went in search of a little drink. A true little one, Gale knew first hand how dreadful the experience was to wake up with a hangover. Especially when call every morning was quite early. Gale had run enough extra laps for being late that he was getting rather tired of too royally inebriating himself.

 

Drinking, thank the Light, wasn't actually forbidden on the Farm. Gale wasn't sure he could make it through the training were that so. Still, a good deal of the men here vented their frustrations out in the bars. Gale could consider himself one of them. While there were not so many women as one would hope, mostly wives of other men training, Gale had been able to make due with just drinking. And without Bailen and the others to coax him on he'd been able, for the most part, to keep out of the stupid dares.

 

He fingered the collar around his neck, pulling it open just a little more as if it were suddenly too tight. The memory of his first day here was still fresh in his mind and he had the feeling that things were about to get a whole lot worse. Blessing or curse, Gale was okay with learning to channel. It was the going mad part he didn't look forward to.

 

So Jas and himself settled into one of the few taverns and ordered a drink to get the evening started. And what an evening it would turn out to be.

 

 

OOC: Basically playing this after the whole inter-division thing. Don't mind if anyone comes in, just going to do bar things and have a past fellow show up and deliver Gale's payment from working on the ship way back when.

[Briwan Dragain]

Four or five drinks later, Gale was still feeling a little tired but much more happy so far as life was concerned. After all, the farm situation wasn't so bad and he could survive being off a ship for a good long while. He should have been proving that the last few months he'd been here. Jas was in the midst of a story or another about what had happened in training today. Gale listened as intently as anyone could while drinking, laughing and carrying on with the others that had gathered for the story.

 

"So there we were in the midst of cooking and I suppose when Breon couldn't get his water to boil, he got a little.. angry," there were mutters that such could be expected from Breon. The Soldier was nowhere to be found this evening. Gale assumed the rest of the tale would explain it. "So he grabs it to throw it out, right, but he's heated the metal pot," laughter starts at the image of the man burning his hands, "and naturally he drops the pot and the water spills out into the dirt."

 

Gale takes another long swallow of his drink only to realize he's finished it. Another gets ordered up. The listeners lean in, grins wide on their faces. Gale couldn't judge, however, for he was doing the same.

 

"And the fool, not wanting to miss out on a chance to express anger, picks up the mud and pot in flows of Air and hurls it behind him." Jas pauses for effect. He also glances around to be sure a certain someone isn't listening in. "Right into our Attack Leader's face!" Knee slapping laughter follows, the image of the stern Attack Leader's face covered in mud is too good an opportunity to pass up.

 

"Where is Breon," one of the other Soldiers was saying, "I'm going to buy him a drink."

 

Jas starts laughing, "that might be hard to do. The Attack Leader has him on guard duty for the rest of the month. To build character, he says." More laughter. But the rest of the conversation Gale misses as there's a very familiar man standing in the doorway. Bailen. From the ship.

 

"Fortune prick me," Gale said quietly, "I do no expect to find you here." He rose to his feet, setting aside another glass he didn't remember emptying. Gale headed over to give the man a hug.

 

And to collect the money the ship owed him.

[Briwan Dragain]

Gale clasped hands with the Illianer man standing there in the doorway, flashing a wide grin and soon pulling the man into a tight hug. The embrace is released quickly and Bailen offers a smile of his own, though it might seem a touch forced.

 

"I hope you do have my pay," Gale said with an almost teasing smile. Bailen hefts a large bag of coins in one hand with a small grin of his own. "How do you be, Bailen?" Gale asked as he took the coins, no need to really count them. Bailen was a man of his word and even if the Captain might have some things to say about what Gale was or was not owed, he was sure Bailen had his back in that department.

 

"I do be well," Bailen responded, eyeing the black coated men beyond Gale a little warily. Aside from one or two, the men listening to another story someone was telling. Gale put it out of mind for the moment. "I see you do be well adjusted to living on land." Gale scoffed a bit.

 

"Ah, well, I do be fit for this life it seems. Come sit and share a drink with us." Gale said with a grin, clapping his hand on the man's shoulder. Bailen, still a touch uneasy, gave a very small smile and nod. "We do no have any of that Tairen stuff," Gale joked, figuring if anyone should get it that would be Bailen. The man looked almost sorrowfully at Gale, as if he were sorry for what had happened. Gale just ushered him to a table and got him a mug of ale.

 

"Tell me, how do be the ship?" Gale asked when Bailen had finished a long swallow. The man put down the mug and rubbed at his bare upper lip for a moment.

 

"Things do no be the same without you, Gale. We do no get the same shore leave as before on account of.." Gale filled in the blank. "And the Captain said if he do see you again he plans to beat you head to toe for, as he said, being a thankless stone carved fool."

 

Gale couldn't help himself from laughing a bit at that. After a moment, Bailen joined in as well. And just like that it was back to old times.

[Briwan Dragain]

But the old times were not meant to last. And it wasn't long into their drinking session that the topics wore thin. After all, it had only been a few months and there was not much Bailen could say to do more than put a smile on Gale's face. He found, despite all the hard, hard days he'd faced here at the Farm, that he was actually growing... well, fond might be too strong of a word but he did not detest this place.

 

"I do no know what your plans be, but I do suspect the Captain do be willing to take you back on board when your training do be finished." Bailen was saying, sipping perhaps his third or fourth mug of ale. "I suspect we do be able to put your channeling to good use," he added, almost as an afterthought. "Since Tear, I by chance did see some of these," he glanced about as if still leery of using the term, "men use the Power. I do bet you do find work keeping any pirates off our back, yes?"

 

Gale offered a good natured laugh to his friend but it never touched his eyes. Gale didn't have much experience with the Power yet, not enough to know all that could be accomplished with it, but he had no intention of being a bodyguard for his old sailing vessel. "I do no think that do be an option, Bailen. I do pledge my services to the Dragon Reborn." Gale took a long swallow from his mug and set it down quietly. "I do so appreciate the kind offer, but I fear I do need to decline."

 

Bailen nodded gravely and, for the moment, that seemed to be the end of that.