Log: Hot Business & Raveki's Buying
The title makes it sound way more lascivious than it is, sorry. :) Vlad comes to the Seven, Vek gets samples of some herbs, it's very hot outside.
The sun is nearly at it's zenith, baking off the early morning clouds and leaving Ista hot and muggy, not that this is anything new. At least in the cover of the jungle's canopy things are a bit cooler, and the Seven is pleasantly shaded by the nearby foliage. The shutters have all been left open to allow what small breeze there is to waft through, and it means that the small knots of men who choose to spend the hottest part of the day with liquor and leisure aren't melting into puddles at least. Raveki tends the bar, clad in what is apparently a bikini top over the flowy skirt she wears, with hair swept up off her neck, but even so she's moving sluggishly today. A wink and a flirty word make up for it though - the few men at the bar itself don't seem to mind her slow saunter.
It must be Vladilen's day off, because he's outside. It also must be his day to absorb some vitamin D before he drops dead because normally? He doesn't go outside at noon, far too hot for him. His face is flushed and a light sweat covers his forehead and cheeks as he steps over the threshold into the Seven. He gives the girls and other patrons a wave before he sits down at the bar, ordering a drink with extra rocks in it. It's five o'clock somewhere, right?
Extra rocks seem to be the order of the day. Raveki doesn't even have to chip more from the block in the straw-insulated ice box - she's got a bucket of slowly melting chips ready to go. There's just a nod for both his flushed face and his order, but when she comes ambling back with his drink she lingers, sliding it across to him and then leaning, hipshot, into the bar. "It's a hot day for hiking out to the jungle, sugar. Don't you have some nice cool tunnel to be burying yourself in?" There's a hint of a smirk tickling around her mouth.
"Every once in awhile you have to get off your ass and leave the nice cool tunnels. Plus, I swear the heat was beginning to get to me there too. I might as well come out here and experience it like a man." Like a going to be drunk before five man. He takes his cool drinks and lifts it to his lips, shooting Raveki a sharky smile before gulps from the glass. After, he asks, "Business better or worse on a day like today?"
From beneath her side of the bar Raveki brings out a little fan made of thin bits of wood and stiff paper, painted with bright tropical flowers. She fans herself idly, blowing a strand of hair up and out of her eyes. "It's not like it doesn't get hotter later in the year, but I think I was spoiled by the dry season," she remarks just as idly, then tips her head to grin at the shark smile. "Mmm, depends. Drinks business tends to be better than usual at this time of day. Other business not so much." Her grin turns wry and her eyes flit to the stairs that lead up to the rooms. "Too hot for that sort of thing I suppose."
Vladilen nods his head, "As I thought." He sips from his glass, this time with more patience than the last. "And yes, I'd imagine that anyone's sex would drive would be murdered by how muggy it is outside. I know that mine is." His expression is displeased before he shoots the brunette another smile, tired, overheated one. "The dry season takes some of the bite out of the heat. Probably the only thing that makes it more bearable. How's this place been faring, since, you know. The whole bust in thing?"
Raveki lingers at the bar for one more beat before giving in to the desire to pour herself a drink. It's mostly water and mint and lime but there is a decent splash of rum in there too, and the process of muddling it all together goes on as she listens to Vlad. Sympathy flickers over her features though it's a bit too pointed to be anything but put on. "Poor guy. Don't you have a dragonrider buddy who could take you somewhere cooler?" She pauses to set aside the muddler and take a long sip, then chuckles a low, dry note. "I'm sure it's my solemn duty to try and spark some of that drive, right? But somehow I don't think that's why you came." His question pulls the mirth out of her mouth and she shrugs, watching him over the rim of her glass. "Business is good as ever. We've got some extra eyes on the place and nothing else has happened so I guess that means things are good."
Vladilen turns the drink around in his hand, listening to the sound of the ice clinking together before he puts the cool glass against his neck. "Nah, not really. Don't have any friends with dragons, go figure. In a place full of them." He doesn't seem too put out by this little fact, a roll of his shoulders giving point to that. "And no, not particularly. I don't even have the desire to spark my desire today, it's a rough life." The more serious subject is met, oddly enough, with a brief smile. "It happens to all of us now and again. You try and make some money to lift yourself out of the dust and others come to smash you down again."
As though it is far more than a casual gesture, Raveki watches the press of cool glass to hot skin, but rather than mirroring it she just takes a tiny sip again. "Eh, me either. A few clients but no one I'd ask to drag me off across the continent. Them's the breaks I guess." She pokes a bit of lime back down into her drink with a finger, then lifts searching eyes, half veiled by lashes. "Someone smash you down lately then?"
He rolls the glass around, getting his skin good and cold before he takes another drink. "It's more inconvienent than convienent. They drag you off and they don't have to drag you back until they feel like it, I'd rather not be at anyone's mercy." For her question there's a shake of his head, a negative. But then, "Not recently. But we've learned to be more careful since then, less careless. Not that I would say your situation is the same, more a crime of opportunity. But now the opportunity is gone. Maybe you should get dogs."
Raveki straightens up from her lean on the bar and, glass in hand, strolls around it. "Mind if I come sit over here with you?" Before he can answer she's perching on the edge of the stool near his and settling her glass down on the bartop. "Not being at anyone's mercy is either a good way to live or a goal that's too hard to meet. I'm not sure which." Her eyes are still keen but her expression is an easy, light smile as she drops an elbow to the bar and leans into it. "We... the weyr? The stores?" For dogs she just smirks and shakes her head. "That's just what I need. MORE things to take care of."
"No..." Oh but, there she is. Very quick. Vladilen has a smirk for that and he shifts ever so slightly, just enough so that he can continue to speak and face her. "I try to avoid the mercy when I can. Sometimes it's impossible, but we do what we can." The glass returns to his skin, this time resting in the nook of his neck. "We, partners. Not the weyr or stores. Hate to lose more than we did a few turns ago, but." His eyeroll sees to indicate a 'what are you going to do' about the old situation. "Nah, you feed it scrap food and it lives outside. I'm sure it would practically entertain itself."
Well he didn't mind anyway, did he? Raveki's grin is ever so slightly sheepish, but the drop of her eyes and the upward glance through her lashes that follows is more a practiced gesture of demure flirtation than anything. It hardly fits with the way she shifts to better face him, or the way she stretches her nearly bare torso so she can lean an elbow into the bar and prop her chin in her hand. "I didn't realize you had... partners. I don't really know much about you at all, Vladilen." The tone is considering, eyes equally watchful as they skip over his face. "Other than you really don't like some people I do like and you always look like you've been dragged in by some large jungle creature who was none too gentle." Her grin softens that last just a bit, as does the tiny wink, but all that is just a distraction from her first statement. "What do you and your partners deal in, exactly?" Beat. "Or vaguely if that suits better." For the dogs she just shrugs. "Not many creatures entertain themselves as well as you might think, but I'll keep it in mind. You selling some?" As if that's the only reason he'd suggest it.
"I really don't like some people that you do like?" Curious. He even manages to not stare at Raveki's chest while they're having this conversation. Maybe his sex drive really is low today. Vladilen merely shrugs his shoulders for those details that she points out, "Just a couple. One to faciliate transactions and the other to aid with the farming bit. Nothing illegal or anything, just quietly contained." And perhaps lucrative enough that someone would want to beat his head in to get a piece. "Herbs." For the rest he waves his hand, "I might know someone who bought one thinking it was one sex when it was really another. Led to some amusing complications."
There is a pause and then a slow nod. "At least that's the impression I get," Raveki drawls low, then takes a sip of her drink. It isn't likely that she misses his lack of attention but for once she doesn't seem inclined to arch and press him into noticing the curves she can claim. Instead she just mouths the word herbs and one dark brow slips upward. "What sort of herbs?" There is interest there most certainly though her words are intentionally light. "The sort I might want to sell? Or... buy?" Long fingers play around the rim of her glass, then slide down it to gather up condensation which gets smeared wanderingly over her collarbone. "I think I'd be more interested in those than the dogs. Though like I said, I'll think about them too."
"From who and about who?" Vladilen asks, sounding just a touch cautious with his question. But then rather abruptly he's waving his hand and making a displeased. "Nevermind, it's probably not very important." The trail her fingers make are watched, but again, it's an off day for him. He's not so easily distraced and quickly, grey eyes find their way back to her face. "The sort that one would roll and smoke, they have a different sort of kick than typical tabacco." He pats down his pockets like he's looking for something just then, "You might want to do both. I'm never opposed to finding someone else who's interested in selling. And really? I'm sure he'd sell the dog for a decent price."
"Vaughan," she answers now that he is both displeased and dismissive. The single word could apply to any or all of the bits of his question, and the casual way she tosses it out suggests she doesn't find it all that important herself. Her fingertips linger, curled towards her collarbone with cool water gathering and then dripping onto her skin, and her eyes follow his glance down, then back up. "Oh yeah? Well I'd at least like a sample. I like tobacco and so do a few of my regulars, but it's not something I actually sell. Sounds like something I would buy at the very least." Finally something that rouses her eyes from overheated slumber into real interest, a spark in their dark depths as she pushes up from her drape across the bar to lean forward a bit. "Who else sells it around here?"
"Who?" The name Vaughan doesn't seem to ring any bells in Vladilen's ears, not right away. Despite having just been dismissive, he glances back and forth, seemingly a little confused. "Vaughan, Vaughan. Sounds familiar. Not catching on a face though." His lips purse and the man seems just a bit disturbed by his lack of remembrance. Finally he shakes his head and sighs, "It's difficult getting old. I'm telling you. Anyway, sure. A sample." There's a final slap to his pockets and he smiles crookedly, "I have a little. I could bring you a better sample later if you prefer." His long fingers dip down and return with a small tin that he slides across the bar. Quietly, "Just buying is fine. Halsten is sort of my distributer, he could get it to you in a nice enough package at a good price."
Dark brows slowly climb at Vlad's apparently unfeigned lack of memory. A hint of amusement flickers around her lips and she hides it behind a long drink of mojito before she just shakes her head. "I'd blame the heat if I were you. You can't be that old." Raveki doesn't seem to be too inclined to clear things up though, especially not in the face of that tin sliding towards her. A smooth swipe lifts it off the wood and she opens it before bringing it up to her face for a sniff. "Hal sells me tobacco and never mentioned this. He also never rolls them for me, bastard." Another little sniff and she puts the lid back on before cradling the tin in her lap. "It's probably cheaper not to go through the middle man, right? I make pretty packages, I don't need them to be made for me."
"Never?" That has Vladilen taken aback and he makes a face. "That doesn't seem like good business. Maybe I should be actively looking for better potential sellers." He laughs then at her observation and rolls his shoulders. "Probably. Just for you, I'll sell directly. I'll even roll them up for you so that you don't have to do it yourself." She's served a flash of teeth before he lifts the drink to his lips so that he can finish whatever liquor is lift in the glass.
Raveki just lets out a weary sigh and shakes her head. "Never. Isn't that terrible? Or maybe it's just that he charges more for them rolled, I'm not entirely sure." She flashes a grin of her own, bright and paired with wide teasing eyes. "I have learned to roll my own though they never turn out as well, and usually if I'm smoking one the last thing I want to do is fuck around with papers, you know?" His smile makes her brighten further yet and she holds a hand out for his glass. "Want a refill? On me? Since you're apparently a sweet guy on top of being cute."
"That is terrible. Though I think it's terrible that you may have told a little white lie to get me to sell you something cheaper and rolled. But I like to do nice things for beautiful women so I'll let that slide." Vladilen leans away from the counter and begins to slip off of his seat, "No, that's alright. I should get going, there are a few things I need to do for today. Also, you're the first person to call me cute and sweet in a long time. I think one of those things is a lie too." He doesn't seem put off, just more amused. "I would agree that I'm quite handsome." He runs one finger along his own jawline, not so much serious before he hands the glass off and moves towards the door. "Later, Vek."
Raveki is all innocence layered thickly over amusement and Raveki shakes her head. "I would never do such a thing, and you offered. I didn't even ask." She takes the glass and pushes it toward the other side of the bar, getting up a beat after he does. "I think you are both. And you'd be downright sexy if you were a little less wilted. For now I think cute might have to do." She follows that finger down his jaw with her eyes, then just lifts a hand to wiggle her own fingers in a tiny wave. "I'll come find you for those herbs sometime soon. Don't melt in the meantime."
The sun is nearly at it's zenith, baking off the early morning clouds and leaving Ista hot and muggy, not that this is anything new. At least in the cover of the jungle's canopy things are a bit cooler, and the Seven is pleasantly shaded by the nearby foliage. The shutters have all been left open to allow what small breeze there is to waft through, and it means that the small knots of men who choose to spend the hottest part of the day with liquor and leisure aren't melting into puddles at least. Raveki tends the bar, clad in what is apparently a bikini top over the flowy skirt she wears, with hair swept up off her neck, but even so she's moving sluggishly today. A wink and a flirty word make up for it though - the few men at the bar itself don't seem to mind her slow saunter.
It must be Vladilen's day off, because he's outside. It also must be his day to absorb some vitamin D before he drops dead because normally? He doesn't go outside at noon, far too hot for him. His face is flushed and a light sweat covers his forehead and cheeks as he steps over the threshold into the Seven. He gives the girls and other patrons a wave before he sits down at the bar, ordering a drink with extra rocks in it. It's five o'clock somewhere, right?
Extra rocks seem to be the order of the day. Raveki doesn't even have to chip more from the block in the straw-insulated ice box - she's got a bucket of slowly melting chips ready to go. There's just a nod for both his flushed face and his order, but when she comes ambling back with his drink she lingers, sliding it across to him and then leaning, hipshot, into the bar. "It's a hot day for hiking out to the jungle, sugar. Don't you have some nice cool tunnel to be burying yourself in?" There's a hint of a smirk tickling around her mouth.
"Every once in awhile you have to get off your ass and leave the nice cool tunnels. Plus, I swear the heat was beginning to get to me there too. I might as well come out here and experience it like a man." Like a going to be drunk before five man. He takes his cool drinks and lifts it to his lips, shooting Raveki a sharky smile before gulps from the glass. After, he asks, "Business better or worse on a day like today?"
From beneath her side of the bar Raveki brings out a little fan made of thin bits of wood and stiff paper, painted with bright tropical flowers. She fans herself idly, blowing a strand of hair up and out of her eyes. "It's not like it doesn't get hotter later in the year, but I think I was spoiled by the dry season," she remarks just as idly, then tips her head to grin at the shark smile. "Mmm, depends. Drinks business tends to be better than usual at this time of day. Other business not so much." Her grin turns wry and her eyes flit to the stairs that lead up to the rooms. "Too hot for that sort of thing I suppose."
Vladilen nods his head, "As I thought." He sips from his glass, this time with more patience than the last. "And yes, I'd imagine that anyone's sex would drive would be murdered by how muggy it is outside. I know that mine is." His expression is displeased before he shoots the brunette another smile, tired, overheated one. "The dry season takes some of the bite out of the heat. Probably the only thing that makes it more bearable. How's this place been faring, since, you know. The whole bust in thing?"
Raveki lingers at the bar for one more beat before giving in to the desire to pour herself a drink. It's mostly water and mint and lime but there is a decent splash of rum in there too, and the process of muddling it all together goes on as she listens to Vlad. Sympathy flickers over her features though it's a bit too pointed to be anything but put on. "Poor guy. Don't you have a dragonrider buddy who could take you somewhere cooler?" She pauses to set aside the muddler and take a long sip, then chuckles a low, dry note. "I'm sure it's my solemn duty to try and spark some of that drive, right? But somehow I don't think that's why you came." His question pulls the mirth out of her mouth and she shrugs, watching him over the rim of her glass. "Business is good as ever. We've got some extra eyes on the place and nothing else has happened so I guess that means things are good."
Vladilen turns the drink around in his hand, listening to the sound of the ice clinking together before he puts the cool glass against his neck. "Nah, not really. Don't have any friends with dragons, go figure. In a place full of them." He doesn't seem too put out by this little fact, a roll of his shoulders giving point to that. "And no, not particularly. I don't even have the desire to spark my desire today, it's a rough life." The more serious subject is met, oddly enough, with a brief smile. "It happens to all of us now and again. You try and make some money to lift yourself out of the dust and others come to smash you down again."
As though it is far more than a casual gesture, Raveki watches the press of cool glass to hot skin, but rather than mirroring it she just takes a tiny sip again. "Eh, me either. A few clients but no one I'd ask to drag me off across the continent. Them's the breaks I guess." She pokes a bit of lime back down into her drink with a finger, then lifts searching eyes, half veiled by lashes. "Someone smash you down lately then?"
He rolls the glass around, getting his skin good and cold before he takes another drink. "It's more inconvienent than convienent. They drag you off and they don't have to drag you back until they feel like it, I'd rather not be at anyone's mercy." For her question there's a shake of his head, a negative. But then, "Not recently. But we've learned to be more careful since then, less careless. Not that I would say your situation is the same, more a crime of opportunity. But now the opportunity is gone. Maybe you should get dogs."
Raveki straightens up from her lean on the bar and, glass in hand, strolls around it. "Mind if I come sit over here with you?" Before he can answer she's perching on the edge of the stool near his and settling her glass down on the bartop. "Not being at anyone's mercy is either a good way to live or a goal that's too hard to meet. I'm not sure which." Her eyes are still keen but her expression is an easy, light smile as she drops an elbow to the bar and leans into it. "We... the weyr? The stores?" For dogs she just smirks and shakes her head. "That's just what I need. MORE things to take care of."
"No..." Oh but, there she is. Very quick. Vladilen has a smirk for that and he shifts ever so slightly, just enough so that he can continue to speak and face her. "I try to avoid the mercy when I can. Sometimes it's impossible, but we do what we can." The glass returns to his skin, this time resting in the nook of his neck. "We, partners. Not the weyr or stores. Hate to lose more than we did a few turns ago, but." His eyeroll sees to indicate a 'what are you going to do' about the old situation. "Nah, you feed it scrap food and it lives outside. I'm sure it would practically entertain itself."
Well he didn't mind anyway, did he? Raveki's grin is ever so slightly sheepish, but the drop of her eyes and the upward glance through her lashes that follows is more a practiced gesture of demure flirtation than anything. It hardly fits with the way she shifts to better face him, or the way she stretches her nearly bare torso so she can lean an elbow into the bar and prop her chin in her hand. "I didn't realize you had... partners. I don't really know much about you at all, Vladilen." The tone is considering, eyes equally watchful as they skip over his face. "Other than you really don't like some people I do like and you always look like you've been dragged in by some large jungle creature who was none too gentle." Her grin softens that last just a bit, as does the tiny wink, but all that is just a distraction from her first statement. "What do you and your partners deal in, exactly?" Beat. "Or vaguely if that suits better." For the dogs she just shrugs. "Not many creatures entertain themselves as well as you might think, but I'll keep it in mind. You selling some?" As if that's the only reason he'd suggest it.
"I really don't like some people that you do like?" Curious. He even manages to not stare at Raveki's chest while they're having this conversation. Maybe his sex drive really is low today. Vladilen merely shrugs his shoulders for those details that she points out, "Just a couple. One to faciliate transactions and the other to aid with the farming bit. Nothing illegal or anything, just quietly contained." And perhaps lucrative enough that someone would want to beat his head in to get a piece. "Herbs." For the rest he waves his hand, "I might know someone who bought one thinking it was one sex when it was really another. Led to some amusing complications."
There is a pause and then a slow nod. "At least that's the impression I get," Raveki drawls low, then takes a sip of her drink. It isn't likely that she misses his lack of attention but for once she doesn't seem inclined to arch and press him into noticing the curves she can claim. Instead she just mouths the word herbs and one dark brow slips upward. "What sort of herbs?" There is interest there most certainly though her words are intentionally light. "The sort I might want to sell? Or... buy?" Long fingers play around the rim of her glass, then slide down it to gather up condensation which gets smeared wanderingly over her collarbone. "I think I'd be more interested in those than the dogs. Though like I said, I'll think about them too."
"From who and about who?" Vladilen asks, sounding just a touch cautious with his question. But then rather abruptly he's waving his hand and making a displeased. "Nevermind, it's probably not very important." The trail her fingers make are watched, but again, it's an off day for him. He's not so easily distraced and quickly, grey eyes find their way back to her face. "The sort that one would roll and smoke, they have a different sort of kick than typical tabacco." He pats down his pockets like he's looking for something just then, "You might want to do both. I'm never opposed to finding someone else who's interested in selling. And really? I'm sure he'd sell the dog for a decent price."
"Vaughan," she answers now that he is both displeased and dismissive. The single word could apply to any or all of the bits of his question, and the casual way she tosses it out suggests she doesn't find it all that important herself. Her fingertips linger, curled towards her collarbone with cool water gathering and then dripping onto her skin, and her eyes follow his glance down, then back up. "Oh yeah? Well I'd at least like a sample. I like tobacco and so do a few of my regulars, but it's not something I actually sell. Sounds like something I would buy at the very least." Finally something that rouses her eyes from overheated slumber into real interest, a spark in their dark depths as she pushes up from her drape across the bar to lean forward a bit. "Who else sells it around here?"
"Who?" The name Vaughan doesn't seem to ring any bells in Vladilen's ears, not right away. Despite having just been dismissive, he glances back and forth, seemingly a little confused. "Vaughan, Vaughan. Sounds familiar. Not catching on a face though." His lips purse and the man seems just a bit disturbed by his lack of remembrance. Finally he shakes his head and sighs, "It's difficult getting old. I'm telling you. Anyway, sure. A sample." There's a final slap to his pockets and he smiles crookedly, "I have a little. I could bring you a better sample later if you prefer." His long fingers dip down and return with a small tin that he slides across the bar. Quietly, "Just buying is fine. Halsten is sort of my distributer, he could get it to you in a nice enough package at a good price."
Dark brows slowly climb at Vlad's apparently unfeigned lack of memory. A hint of amusement flickers around her lips and she hides it behind a long drink of mojito before she just shakes her head. "I'd blame the heat if I were you. You can't be that old." Raveki doesn't seem to be too inclined to clear things up though, especially not in the face of that tin sliding towards her. A smooth swipe lifts it off the wood and she opens it before bringing it up to her face for a sniff. "Hal sells me tobacco and never mentioned this. He also never rolls them for me, bastard." Another little sniff and she puts the lid back on before cradling the tin in her lap. "It's probably cheaper not to go through the middle man, right? I make pretty packages, I don't need them to be made for me."
"Never?" That has Vladilen taken aback and he makes a face. "That doesn't seem like good business. Maybe I should be actively looking for better potential sellers." He laughs then at her observation and rolls his shoulders. "Probably. Just for you, I'll sell directly. I'll even roll them up for you so that you don't have to do it yourself." She's served a flash of teeth before he lifts the drink to his lips so that he can finish whatever liquor is lift in the glass.
Raveki just lets out a weary sigh and shakes her head. "Never. Isn't that terrible? Or maybe it's just that he charges more for them rolled, I'm not entirely sure." She flashes a grin of her own, bright and paired with wide teasing eyes. "I have learned to roll my own though they never turn out as well, and usually if I'm smoking one the last thing I want to do is fuck around with papers, you know?" His smile makes her brighten further yet and she holds a hand out for his glass. "Want a refill? On me? Since you're apparently a sweet guy on top of being cute."
"That is terrible. Though I think it's terrible that you may have told a little white lie to get me to sell you something cheaper and rolled. But I like to do nice things for beautiful women so I'll let that slide." Vladilen leans away from the counter and begins to slip off of his seat, "No, that's alright. I should get going, there are a few things I need to do for today. Also, you're the first person to call me cute and sweet in a long time. I think one of those things is a lie too." He doesn't seem put off, just more amused. "I would agree that I'm quite handsome." He runs one finger along his own jawline, not so much serious before he hands the glass off and moves towards the door. "Later, Vek."
Raveki is all innocence layered thickly over amusement and Raveki shakes her head. "I would never do such a thing, and you offered. I didn't even ask." She takes the glass and pushes it toward the other side of the bar, getting up a beat after he does. "I think you are both. And you'd be downright sexy if you were a little less wilted. For now I think cute might have to do." She follows that finger down his jaw with her eyes, then just lifts a hand to wiggle her own fingers in a tiny wave. "I'll come find you for those herbs sometime soon. Don't melt in the meantime."