Remember The Name (Maybeth)

The voice was familiar, she knew that she knew its owner, but she couldn't place a face or a name or even a memory. As she turned to look at the newcomer she found his appearance, much like his voice, teased her memory but didn't help her identify him. He was like a half-forgotten memory of a hazy dream, there but too blurry and indistinct to grasp.

It wasn't until he said: "I'm that dragon she was talking about," that recognition dawned in her eye. For a second her face was still in surprise, and then her lips stretched out in a delighted beam. She distantly registered that the younger woman was talking, but Tamura's attention had moved to Jonathon. Her arms outstretched as she approached him, slinging one arm over his shoulders and ruffling his hair with her free hand.

"Jonathon! Has our brave little dragon returned to save an old woman?" she exclaimed, still smiling. "You owe me a drink," the way she said that made it sound like that was the only reason she was happy to see him. It wasn't. She could remember him very well now, that little kid alone on the road who'd helped her cash in on a fairly hefty reward for a job well done. He'd impressed her with his tenacity. She hadn't seen him in at least a dozen years and she was very surprised he remembered, but glad. She'd often wondered if the kid was okay, and seeing him now he seemed to have at least survived.

"You've grown up a little haven't you?" she added, scrutinising him from foot to head with her amber gaze, letting out a mildly impressed whistle as she did. "He's not really a dragon, that was just a little bit of creative liberty to spice up the story," she fake-whispered comically at Tzintza. "But he is a fire bender, a fairly decent one too if I remember correctly," she added, slapping her hand lazily against his back.

Under different circumstances she might have been able to read Tzintza's rising anger. Tamura had experienced very similar feelings to the ones the younger girl was going through right now. That palpable tension in your mind that slowly drives out all coherent thoughts, the growing struggle to cling to calmness, the suffocating rage, the red mist slowly descending upon your vision as you desperately try to fight the losing battle against the rising fury.

Right now though she was too busy basking in the presence of an old acquaintance to notice, and who could blame her? Tamura didn't have many acquaintances, not many people remembered her and she didn't remember many people. Her life's relationships consisted of shallow relationships with various people around the world, friendships and romances that lasted a night, maybe a week if the conditions were right, before she had to leave them behind. Twenty years ago that didn't bother her in the least. She wasn't young anymore though. She was starting to get old, soon her skills would dull, her ability to hunt and kill would wax and wane and she'd collapse, a useless lump of wrinkled meat and bones with no family to help her. The way she saw things she had two prospects when it came to old age, either die as she had lived, by the sword, or start building relationships with others and spend her twilight years watching them grow up and do what she no longer could. In short she wanted a family, she still had her father and her mother, but that wasn't the sort of family she wanted. She wanted to take someone young under her care, to help them grow and teach them the ropes. Those concerns of hers weren't new, they'd been trotting in her mind for the past couple of years. This chance encounter, maybe this was her opportunity to finally have something more to her name than a lifetime of murdering. Jonathon. And Tzintza, maybe the fiery young woman was exactly what she was looking for...

The hand that had been ruffling Jonathon's hair stretched to grab Tzintza as she pulled both of them in, wrapping her arms around their necks as she half-led and half-dragged them back towards the establishment they'd vacated just a few moments earlier. The reason why they'd left it had been pushed right out of her mind already

"Come, come kids. It's cold out here. The middle of the streets is no place for a reunion. We'll grab a table, we'll order many drinks and we'll have fun!" she exclaimed to no one in particular.

Jonathon couldn't help but chuckle a little as Tamura marveled at his return. "I was planning on it, but you seemed content enough just bragging about our time together to those people." He said, being honest with her. "Just don't request anything too expensive, I haven't taken too many jobs lately. Be wanted by the empire sort of hurts a mercenaries career." He said, then she dragged the other girl over as well. "Uh, hi...I don't think we got off on the best of terms. I'm Jonathon, nice to meet you." He said, trying to make pleasant conversation. As they re-entered the inn Jonathon threw his hood back up so as to avoid being recognized by anyone who may or may not have seen his poster.

She didn't notice the dirty looks that were thrown in their general direction as the three of them walked in, the two younger fighters still held locked in her arms. She let them go as they neared a table as she slumped into a chair, angling her seat to have its back to a wall and a clear sight of the entrance by reflex.

"You don't have to worry about the price here Jonathon. They only serve cheap swill. The finest of cheap swill maybe, but cheap swill nonetheless," she replied lightly. The smile still hadn't left her lips as she held up a hand at the barman with three fingers stuck out. The drinks arrived in the blink of an eye, three heavy tankards were set down in front of them, their content threatening to spill out on the table as it sloshed within. As was customary she drank hers straight, chugging the drink in a single motion and setting down the wooden container only once every ounce of liquid had been drained from it.

"Well, that hits the spot," she declared after a long content sigh, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Tzintza had matched her pace. That girl's competitive spirit would be the end of her if she tried to keep up on the drinking front. She put up her hand again, ordering a new set of three tankards. "This round's on me," she added as the new drinks were being prepared and brought over.

"So Jonathon. I'm glad to see you're still alive, even if you did stick to the mercenary shtick. Didn't I tell you it's a crappy job? You might want to keep the fact you're wanted by the Empire a little on the down low though if you want to remain in one piece," she pointed out, a note of worry creeping into her otherwise amicable tone. "Going around telling it to strangers is probably not the best way to go about remaining incognito. That's just my professional opinion though," she added, taking a sip of the tankard of ale that had just been put down before her.

((OOC: I went and assumed Tzintza would try to match Tamura and Jonathon's drinking speed based on her character, seems like something she'd do. Feel free to ask me to change it if you don't think she'd do that Mayb))

Jonathon shrugged and took a drink. "I keep the hood up. Plus, I figured she wasn't much of a stranger if you were outside a bar fighting with her. I mean, we got along pretty fast with less then that." He took another drink. "Besides, it's been a few months since it was put out. If it weren't for the fact that the empire is stubborn and persistent, I'd probably be in the clear. However, they never give up a hunt, so I'm still sticking to back roads and shadows. It's alright though, never really liked the attention anyway." He then leaned close to her. "Thankfully these people are too dense to put a name to a face when you mentioned me in that story of yours, or else we might be getting interrogated right now." He then leaned back, laughing and taking a drink. Then he turned to Tzintza. "So, miss, what's your story? What's a girl like yourself doing in a grimy place like this?"

"Now, now what's that supposed to meet? I can assure you I have managed to pick fights with absolute strangers in record time," the way she said it made it seem as though the ability to start flash-brawls was a source of some pride to her. “They are stubborn, I’ll give you that, but don’t you worry about the name dropping Johnny boy, I’m sure you’re not the only Jonathon out there, and I’d stake an eye that most of them aren’t wanted,” she paused for a second to finish her drink, her smile dropping into a pensive scowl as she considered that last statement. “Well okay maybe not an eye. I only have one of those to spare after all, maybe a finger or two,” she held a deadpan look for a second before a smile cracked her lips. “Just kidding. I wouldn’t risk your life if I wasn’t confident enough in the situation to put an eye on the line. You’re still too young to die,” complimenting her sentence with an amiable slap on his back, after which she turned around to face the bar, sketching out the form of a bottle in the air. “Y’know, it’s nice that they have such a tiny selection of drinks here that you can actually order drinks without having to open your mouth,” she remarked, blowing a gust of air upwards with her mouth, pushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face while slouching back in her chair and turning around to face her two companions just as Jonathon was finishing his question to Tzintza.

"Jonathon, whatever are you implying by 'a girl like you'? Are you trying to say I'm perfectly suited to a 'grimy place like this' hmm?" her tone was teasing and sarcastic, her complaint wasn't anywhere near serious. She knew exactly what he meant. To Tamura, Tzintza's anger and aggressive attitude smacked of only one thing. Insecurity. She was trying to make up for something she was not, she was trying to pose as someone she was not and she definitely did not be. The girl lacked those cold killer's eyes, but with the path Tzintza had chosen she'd get them soon enough. Too soon. Maybe though, with guidance, a little help, a shove in the right direction, maybe she could be spared that. Killing someone wasn't something anyone should have to experience, especially not at such a young age. There was one thing Tamura wished on no one, and that was to grow as unaffected by murder as she had. Years, no decades ago Tamura had been the same. Even when she'd met Jonathon for the first time she'd failed to steer him away from this life despite having realised how little happiness this life brought, maybe with Tzintza she could do better.

As the girl grabbed the bottle to serve herself a new drink Tamura very gently placed her hand on the girl's lifting up the bottle slowly, stopping the flow of clear liquid, taking the bottle in her own hand and serving the girl a single measure of the spirit.

"That is sake. Bad sake, heavier on the alcohol to make up for the terrible taste. It's made from fermenting rice, and it's quite a bit stronger than what we were drinking before," she explained calmly, serving herself and Jonathon a shot as well. "What we were drinking before was beer. This stuff,” she tapped a finger against the clay bottle, “you have to be a bit more careful with. If you want I can teach you a thing or two about drinking. You won’t be able to look half as aggressive if you’re passed out on the ground,” the statement was gently teasing, but the suggestion was made in good faith.

"I think that may have been a bit too much for her system Tamura." Jonathon said, downing his shot of sake. "Damn, this is bad sake." He said, feeling it burn his throat. Coughing and pounding his chest he shook his head. "Man, I'm surprised she's conscious after that. She's got nerve, or something of the sort." He said, knowing Tzinta was kind of out of it. "So, what are we going to do with her? I can tell you're planning something, and I'm going to guess it has to do with me." He said as he poured himself more of the bad sake. "Go ahead Tamura, shoot."

"Oh my," she chuckled lightly as the young woman's face made contact with the wooden table, leaning over she poked Tzintza's forehead with one outstretched finger lightly a couple of times. The physical contact was met with no visible reaction, which was a little worrying, but nothing to panic about. "Seems like that last gulp totally fried her brain," she remarked casually.

As she listened to Jonathon out of one ear she continued to inspect the girl, making sure her pulse and breathing were fine. That the girl was muttering disjointed nonsense was reassuring, it at least meant she was still alive and definitely not in an alcohol-induced coma. Satisfied the girl would be fine Tamura sat back down in her chair, addressing Jonathon without turning to look at him, her eyes still on the girl.

"Cheap and bad as it may be, it packs quite the wallop, and yes, I am surprised as well. She survived that drinking session a whole minute longer than I thought she would if I'm honest. Look at her," she let out a gentle sigh as her one visible eye lost its usual predatory sharpness, softening considerably as though she was lost in the past. "So eager to prove she belongs in this grown up world she knows so little about. If she knew she'd turn her back on all of this and just trundle off to form a family and live a normal life. By the time she realises this isn't what she wants she'll be too angry and too proud to back down until it's too late," admittedly Tamura didn't know any of this for sure. It was based on seeing this girl act in the last couple of hours and a healthy dose of conjecture. That girl reminded Tamura of herself, when she was younger. She'd had her father to stop her form destroying herself, though he'd failed to warn her against what living as a travelling sword for hire entailed.

"Y'know, that much rage and stubbornness is a powerful mix Jonathon. It can be channelled to cause great harm upon your opponents, but eventually it always comes back to bite you in the ass. She's as likely to destroy herself as she is likely to destroy her opponents," the softness in her eye vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and her voice returned to its usual disinterested tone.

"C'mon, help me drag her up to a bed big boy," she declared, emptying her cup in one great gulp and getting up. "I rented a room for the night, we'll put her down there. Hopefully she'll sober up and regain her senses before it gets too late. I'd hate to have to sleep on the floor tonight," she muttered as she slung one of Tzintza's arms over her shoulders, waiting for Jonathon to do the same on the other side. "Once we tuck her in we'll come back down and we'll talk some more."

Tamura had purposefully avoided answering his last question. In general scheming in front of the one that was the object of the scheming was a bad idea, even if that person was currently not in control of their body.