(Untitled)

[oh_wowee]

There's a musician off in one corner, with two guitars - one acoustic, one electric, the latter of which was hooked up to a miniature, self powered amplifier provided by Bar. At the current juncture, the one in his possession was the acoustic - a black, shiny beast with silver frets and mother of pearl inlay. From it, Toki wrought the light,

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[ostro_goth]

Teja, seeing him, wonders how Toki means to play two guitars at once. Perhaps he would invite other men to play with him?

[ostro_goth]

As the rat was there, Teja asked for a cup of well-watered red wine, also.

"Cup of many wonders, even," he says. "I drank koumiss the other day, with Attila the Hun."

[oh_wowee]

"You kids me." Toki said, blinking.
"Attila de Huns." He got a sly smile then, "I hears dat Leonidas is here, too. Dis place is getting full of famous warrior kings. Glad I gots to meet at least one of dems." He was utterly surprised, still. "So does he wears de fluffy hat like in de pictures, or is dat jus' fantasy?"

[ostro_goth]

Teja is amused at the question. "No fluffy hat -- just a beard, and dark hair," he says. "And I have tried to tell him that in this place, people may have baths."

Pause.

"And yes, I spoke to Leonidas, also, some time ago -- he was still alive, unlike Attila, so it was hard to show him my full appreciation without any history-book sooth-saying. As his great, historic heroism lay in his death!"

Teja's vocabulary does not contain the word 'to fanboy'; but that might have been what he would have been doing, almost.

[oh_wowee]

There was a great bunch of nodding, "Ja, I only wish I coulds meets him so I could say I has shakes de hand of de great king of Sparta! Wowee, I would likes to meets Atilla, too. He sounds likes he smells like Murderface. Dat ain't so bad, I suppose." He paused, then laughed at a thought he'd had. "We could throws him in de lake if he gets any more smelly, jus' for de sakes of de other peoples' noses."

Look at this, two legends fanboying over other legends. It was a Kodak moment.

[ostro_goth]

"The smell of koumiss, while bearable, an get old," Teja says. "You know how men that drink much will smell of their drink if they do not wash? Imagine that drink smell, and then the smell of sour milk in addition, with a hint of horse added. But he was educated among Romans for a while, in his youth -- at least that is what the historians wrote. So he would know what baths are. None would demand that he relish them as I do, merely that he take them on occasion."

[oh_wowee]

"Oh ja, Pickle gets dat way sometimes if he goes into a bender an' forgets to takes showers. Sometimes we gots to reminds him. Murderface jus' smells allatimes whether he showers or not - is kinda disgusting." Toki took his ale and sandwich from the rat with a nod of thanks. "But Skwisgaar prolly takes like, three showers a day. I don't gets it, I sees de point of gettings clean and relaxings, but three a day is far too many. I jus' takes one, two if we does a concert." He took a sip of his ale and stretched out. "I guess you can't tells a Hun what's proper. I wouldn't wants to argues with him, neither."

[ostro_goth]

"I would," Teja says. "He is lost; so of course I tell him what he might do! He is even more confused than I was, as war and leadership is truly all he ever did, in his life; and I still had music and forge-work when I came here."

Pause.

"I might take two baths if I got truly dirt and grimy, exercising outside, or working in the forge; most days, just one, when I return to my room and would go to sleep."

The part about going to sleep doesn't always work for Teja; he has a soldier's light, easily startled sleep, and the insomniac habits of a man who often sees dark terrors in his dreams.

[oh_wowee]

Toki nodded, "I takes one just after I works out with de weights or does my yoga in de mornings."

And as they talked, they shared another round of drinks and another round of music. Toki was delighted that his dear friend was still around, and that all things were still same as they always were, despite the fluctuation constantly shifting people around at the Bar.