A Floor is A Floor [Open]
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#1
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
Adam was drunk.

More than just drunk; he was steaming, he was plastered. Smashed, if you would. Absolutely fucking sodden. When there were free drinks at the Rathskeller day in and day out, he had no excuse not to be. You could say what you wanted about the afterlife he was pretty sure he was in, but it had a good bar.

He'd stumbled out some time in the early morning when a very helpful person speaking in very gentle tones had indicated he should get the fuck out.

So, he had obediently stumbled out.

Wandering, he decided to check out one of the big buildings he hadn't gone in yet. Who knew? Maybe it'd be another open bar, this time with a wall of dancers and a throne for him to sit in. Adam swayed into the Atheneum and made a disappointed face as he saw just books. Hundreds and hundreds of books. Well, that was just fucking useless.

Disappointed and suddenly finding his head very heavy, he wobbled in between two shelves and decided this was a good place to go for a quick nap, laid on the cold stone tiles. Out of the way, he thought.

What he didn't factor in was his loud snoring. It echoed through the Atheneum, a rattling noise that cut through the silence and would be heard across the hall. Adam slept on unknowingly, drooling a little on the floor.
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
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#2

Are
You would think a moment of solace and quiet in the still of the night would be enough to settle whatever simple thoughts swirled around a cobbler's head. It probably would have if not for the fact that life itself had capsized with the longboat and took what little faith remained with it. Wrapped in a makeshift cloak, Are left the temple for the fresh chill of the great, somewhat bleak, outdoors. No, not home, not yet. Enough time had not passed, night was still young and he refused to toss and turn another few hours before passing out finally.

The Atheneum, never been there... It was close enough, and not filled with all kinds of hostile critters, he hoped. It couldn't be worse than the woods. The short walk roused enough worries from their sleep to fill the halls of Ägir, with Are the drowned at the head of the table. Every single niggling doubt came out to play as the daylight waned. Gods what he would do for a single moment of pure silence. Almost the same silence that now enveloped him as he on soft soles snuck through the halls and corridors, not necessarily dodging what few folks he heard, but rather taking other paths.

He could have walked right past the little spot between the shelves and moldy books, but he couldn't leave well enough alone. "Hey... You dead? he whispered, forgoing his usual greetings and pleasantries. The snoring should've been enough of an answer, but a poke with the axe handle was needed, just to be sure...
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
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#3
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
Adam blearily opened his eyes as he was poked, tilting his head up with enough dramatised effort to make it clear he really didn't want to. The wobbling image of two men finally worked it's way into one before him, and he rubbed at his face. Finally the question he'd heard actually made sense, having gotten through the slow cogs of his brain.

"...No. Well...actually, kinda." He answered, then pulled a face at the taste in his mouth. Still, he had always been a rambler when drunk (or, really, any time) so he forced himself up on one elbow and looked Are up and down.

"We're all dead, I think. Doesn't this feel like hell to you, mate? Or some kinda purgatory.  I know if it was heaven there wouldn't be a fucking library." He flopped back down and glared at the shelves above him, the books taunting him with their words and secrets. "...If you're tryina get me to leave, gimme five minutes."
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
Played by: Wiggen Offline
Change author:
Posts: 301 | Total: 311
MP: 0
#4

Are
By the gods, the first sane person and it's a drunk...

Truly an answer he was not prepared to receive, even though he knew it as a fact, hearing someone sharing the same thought made it all come back. Roana will hate me...

"It doesn't feel like it no. Hel is supposed to be colder. Might be the halls of Ägir, you drowned too?" Are asked and sat down on the hard floor. Fingers bleeding not half a day ago brushed the hat off his head and stroked his face, trying to make sense of it all. Dead was simpler, there was no dying in Hel, only suffering. That he could agree on. Didn't change anything, but explained things.

"No, who am I to rouse a drunkard from his well earned rest? It's just... You're the first to also know."
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
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#5
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
The guy said 'Hell' weirdly, had an accent he didn't recognise...referenced something called...aaareee-gyrr? Adam squinted at him and tried to work out what the fuck he was going about through his hazy booze fog. "I didn't drown, no. I was on my horse, chasing after some rich asshole, then I...think I musta fallen or been shot or something, cos it all went black and weird then I was here."

All things considered, drowning sounded like it might have been nicer. Though he did appreciate the dramatics of his own imagined death.

He didn't really care for the nickname of 'drunkard', but he wasn't really in the position to argue it, laying in a mess on the floor of a public building. Besides, Are was right -- no one else seemed to know that this was obviously some kind of afterlife. Putting his offence to one side he forced his head up to look at his philosophical partner.

"None of the rest of 'em wanna admit it, I don't think. People are scared of death and shit. But this ain't so bad. It's...boring, but not that bad." He'd certainly been through worse. "You got a name? Think you did anything to deserve being in Hell?"
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
Played by: Wiggen Offline
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Posts: 301 | Total: 311
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#6

Are
Words. There was little control to the flow of his native tongue, words coming in dribs and drabs as his mind slipped. Concepts for him so obvious it was as much fact as anything tangible lost on other people. It took time to adjust to being alone in one's world, but a glimmer of hope that there might be common ground was enough for the cobbler to not leave the drunkard to himself.

"Hel it is then." Are remarked. Voice dry and tired, tired of having facts as clear as the ground being down and the sky up refuted by people who had seemed sane at first. Tired of having to nod along as maniacs called the whole ordeal natural, incessantly stating that it wasn't a passing. Tired of fearing to speak his mind and be branded a fool, well, that he could manage without speaking as well...

"Hel is not a matter of deserving or not. I am Are, the cobbler, had I been Are the warrior I might have ended up in a better place, maybe not alone, but one do what one can with what's at hand. Death doesn't seem all that bad though, I can work and drink til the world crumbles, or my sanity."

"Boredom comes with familiarity I guess. Father always told me so. Wife too, but I prefer bored and alive too excited and dead. Seems you've got the worst of both, you speak like a warrior though, why are you here?
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,044 | Total: 8,707
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#7
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
Are started going on about...warriors, or cobblers, or something, and Adam shifted himself up, scratched at his chin. Was this guy drunk too? Or at least high. But whatever he was, he asked Adam if he was a warrior, which was close enough for an invitation to introduce himself as he needed.

"Uh, no. I'm Adam Pikely, best--" Adam burped loudly, putting his hand somewhere near the vicinity of his mouth but not really covering it. "--Highwayman and thief you'll ever meet. I guess I have fought people, but uh...not really a warrior. Just shoot 'em when I gotta." He patted the gun on his hip.

Forcing himself to sit, he leaned up against the bookcase and looked sideways at Are. "Y'go to Hell cos you were bad, though, that's what I was told. And I figure I'm here cos of all of the stealing and cheating and shooting."
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
Played by: Wiggen Offline
Change author:
Posts: 301 | Total: 311
MP: 0
#8

Are
Conflicted, Are sat and chewed the inside of his cheek like he had a habit of doing. Not until he felt the metallic taste that tended to follow deep thoughts. A thief, but who am I to judge? I'm here too. A light chuckle and a shake of his head was enough to put an end to whatever judgement had been brewing in his thoughts. Not as if it mattered anymore, death was probably enough to change a man. For better or worse though?

A shrug and half a smile was all he had as an answer to the thief's honesty. Surely no one that honest could be all bad. Still, Are was comforted that all he had worth stealing had been sent to the bottom of Mälaren. "I recognize that, your kind is part of the reason I'm here." he said, but not with a trace of ill will. Voice as if talking about seeing an old friend. A reminder of home, a bleak one, but not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Are's smile grew again.

"No harm done though, it's not like you tipped the boat." he leaned back, hat in hand and still smiling. "Is it your hell or my Hel that takes anyone but the drowned and honorable? No matter what we call it, it could've been worse, no?"
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
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#9
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
Adam noted the slight trepidation in Are's face as he announced his occupation, revelled in it. He liked to shock people with his bad boy image, liked to think that he could scandalise the uptight with his loose shirts and quick hands. Are did seem to get over whatever his anxieties had been though and Adam raised his eyebrows at the mention of 'his kind'.

"Yeah, could be worse. It's...weird here, though. Everyone's got magic powers and there's this big weird...wall...thing around the whole place. I tried to shoot it, but my bullet came bouncing the fuck back and uh, right into a guy, actually. But he was alright." His hands came up in the last sentence assuredly. He was a thief but not a murderer, didn't want to get that reputation.

Adam scratched his head, looked up at Are. "You wanna see something cool though?" Without waiting for an answer he held out his arm. After a few seconds there was the sound of wings flapping nearby, then a small black dragon flew down from above the shelves, landed on Adam's outstretched arm and nuzzled up to his cheek, obviously fond of him.

"This is Coffee. We're friends."
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
Played by: Wiggen Offline
Change author:
Posts: 301 | Total: 311
MP: 0
#10


Are
Are could nothing but nod and chuckle at Adam's observations of the strangeness of whatever afterlife they found themselves in. His choice of words was... interesting, and Are was busy trying to catch up with what he was trying to say and formulate an answer beyond a perplexed grunt. What little breathing room he was left to answer in got cut short by the noise of a diving bird and a glint of dark as the jet black scales caught the light.

"Swina bqllr!" Are exclaimed and threw himself into a bookshelf, nearly toppling it but. Provided temporary cover by the shower of musty old tomes the shelf sent raining down upon him, he peered out between the fingers covering his face.

One day he would have the strength and knowledge to not be scared shitless by anything, that day seemed far out as he, shivering, exhaled. The creature's friendliness towards Adam calmed Are. Enough so that he could sit up again and resume the conversation. "Yes, very... cool." he said and swallowed hard, the creature gave him the shills. A dragon, not as sizeable as he had come to believe, but it was all there. "Where did you find it? Who was it before? The treasure, the knowledge, is it all yours now !?" Are said, every word almost stumbling on the one before.
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,044 | Total: 8,707
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#11
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
In quite the overreaction to the sight of his new friend, Are jumped and brought books falling down, the dustcloud making Adam screw up his eyes. For a moment Adam looked about the edge of the shelf to see if anyone was going to come running over demanding justice for the fallen books, was planning a way to pin the blame of Are...but no one did come, so he relaxed again.

And after a moment it seemed Are relaxed too. "Uh...I found him over at the Oasis, fighting some worms. He was...himself? Before? And he didn't come with treasure." His focus shifted to Coffee, Adam scratching the dragon's chin and speaking in a baby voice: "Were you meant to come with treasure, you little shit? Huh? Where's my treasure?"
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
Played by: Wiggen Offline
Change author:
Posts: 301 | Total: 311
MP: 0
#12


Are
"Found!?" Are exclaimed as he brushed the settled dust off of his tunic. It would make perfect sense though, in some twisted manner. The concept of a great and horrendous fire-breathing beast, a shape-shifter guarding treasure and knowledge so great it was sought after by the gods themselves. For Caido, it seemed only fitting that it had been turned on its head and was now not more than a lizard the size of a piglet.


"It's a tale from my home, but little I know seems to matter here, the only thing that stays the same are the people." he said with a tired sigh and a hand scratching at the growing stubble on his chin. "What do you even do around here anyways?" he suddenly asked, as if the matter that he was talking to a thief finally sunk in. "There doesn't seem to be an awful lot to steal and not enough people to steal from that you wouldn't lose your nose in a week."
Adam Pikely
Smuggler's Liaison

Age: 36 | Height: 6'3" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 17 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 17 - Luck: 12 - Int:
Played by: lancydulac Offline
Change author:
Posts: 1,044 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#13
ADAM
it's not a cry for help,
it's just a cry for connection.
"Yeah, found...over by the lake." Adam shrugged with a casualness very unsuitable for having a dragon as a pet, but seemed to not need to put any effort into his indifference. Where he had come from dragons had been pests, mostly, big lizards that lived in valleys and killed sheep...they hadn't guarded treasure, or been this cute.

Are identified with pinpoint accuracy the issues of Adam's occupation in his new home. With a sigh and a roll of his shoulders, he nodded. "Yeah, it's rough. I guess I gotta work out something new, but I don't wanna be a farmer or some shit like that. I'm meant for something better." Quite what something better was he didn't say, but he looked up with a spark in his eyes towards some unknown dream.

Slumping further down the shelf just a little he looked Are up and down. "What do you do?" Not fashion, that's for sure, he thought, but kept that to himself.
i'd trade my life and health,
to make people pay attention.
I'd sacrifice myself for the
sake of entertainment.
Are Jormsson
Cobbler / Leatherworker

Age: 31 | Height: 6'4" (193cm) | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 3 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 6 - Int:
Played by: Wiggen Offline
Change author:
Posts: 301 | Total: 311
MP: 0
#14


Are
His head just shook, unable to grasp what Adam told him. To find a dragon as simply as one takes in a stray dog. For but a moment, a thought fell from his mind. Maybe Are himself could find a dragon? In fertile ground it sprouted and claimed its own little piece of his consciousness, another piece of his already over filled head.

Adam's tangible disdain for honest work had Are huffing and puffing in an instance. A thief he could tolerate, but one lazy enough to so readily dismiss the virtues of hard labor, that was quite enough for the cobbler. He was cooking up one Hel of a sulphurous string of carefully selected curses to unleash to unleash, but got stopped dead in his tracks by the simple question. "Me? Oh, I am a cobbler, and tanner, straps and belts I also make as th-" he babbled merrily, happy to finally be asked about what little he felt proud of. "Something better?" Are finally managed to get back to his original train of thought. "You fancy yourself a scholar or a maybe a Huskarl? A leader."


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