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[Aankin]

It had been a hectic day.

Along with rather odd accusations, congratulations, amputations and things like that, Aankin had been forced to cope with more human contact than he had in months, perhaps years. It was a rather exhausting situation, and for the first time in his entire life he found himself actually craving a drink. After some rather rushed procedures where he had to sign a thing or two, he had slipped away to go forge his way into some sort of public drinking area.

He sighed as he glanced about him, it was already starting to get dark. While this was good for him, because it made it easier to be unrecognized by someone who'd drag him back to more papers and debates, he rather regretted basically losing an entire day to something he didn't even quite understand. Luckily, they had had no time to stuff him into some extremely poofy outfit or anything, and he was wearing his plain old every day clothes. Hopefully this would make him blend in better; but as this was his first day here, he sincerely doubted anyone normal would recognize him anyway.

He sighed as he pushed open the door to what was apparantly the 'Tavern'. He'd read a lot about these places, but had always been rather nervous about going into the one by his home, for fear of being caught by someone who knew his parents, or worse, knew him in general.

After a hushed request and a few second wait, he had his drink, and, careful not to drop it, he took it to an empty table and sat. He sipped it, made a face, but also let out the cliche 'sigh' that came with the first sip of a drink.

This was much better than signatures and ink.

[Iris]

"Do I know you somewhere? Because I'm sure I've seen you before, and I don't forget a face." A woman's voice came from almost out of nowhere. Before the king stood a woman of ample features, her hands placed on her hips, and her face smiling brightly. "Name's Alice. Alice Anders. Do you mind if I have a seat?" Without pausing for him to answer, she pulled one of the chairs out from the table, and sat down with the king. She knew a sucker when she saw one, and Iris wasn't about to let one get away. Her eyes darted around. She was pretending to size him up, playing at deciding him worth her time or not, but she made note of his purse. She smiled at him, and bent over the table, asking, "So, what's your name, hun?" She smiled mischievously, and winked at him, as if she were starting to flirt...

[Aankin]

Aankin blinked. Perhaps he was wrong about no-one recognizing him, was this someone from his old village? He watched, confused, as the pretty woman sat down and started asking him questions. There was nothing written about this in the books he had read... Unless... she was one of those 'barmaids', so to speak. His face took on a troubled look as she continued talking to him. He truly had no idea who she was; but he thought maybe, just maybe she looked sort of like that one girl who lived across town... But not really?

"Uh.."

He found himself unable to say anything. She'd already asked him if she could sit down, only to sit down before he could answer, so he wasn't sure if he should answer her next question. Since the question -was- about his identity, though, he figured it wasn't smart to start telling people about himself anyway.

"My name is--er--Joseph."

[Iris]

"Joseph? Well that's a striking name." She winked at him again, this time sliding her chair a little closer. "Glad to meet such a handsome young man here in this big new kingdom." She smiled at him, leaning on his shoulder, taking care to place her chest square over his arm. "I can count on you to help me, right? I'm so worried that bad things might happen to me here. I mean, there could be a thief anywhere, and I'm just a defenseless woman. Who knows what they would do to me? Oh, You'll protect me? I knew I could count on such a handsome man to be just as gallant!" She reached down and placed her hand upon his leg, moving it up and down along his thigh. "Thank you soooo... much!" She smiled and winked as her hand found its way to his coin purse, slowly and carefully unknotting it from his belt. "You're my hero." She leaned in toward his face, and gave him a kiss on his cheek, quickly lifting his purse, and placing it in her pocket at the same time. She stayed close to his face for a moment, whispered, "Make sure to come here and see me again, hun." She winked, and pulled her face away, slowly walking toward the door along the wall with plenty of windows...

[Aankin]

Aankin was taken off guard as he felt something squishy pressing into his arm. He did his best not to glance down at the offending bodypart, but he would be a liar if he said if his eyes did not stray away from her face or his drink. He was still male, after all; but that was besides the point. This woman was obviously... drunk? At least, he thought she was. He'd never actually dealt with a drunk person before.

Before he knew it, her hand was on his leg and she was even closer to him. He shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't sure what was going on, and that was something he didn't like very much. "--Er--" He tried to get a word inbetween her rambling about protecting her or something of the sort, but failed.

And then, she was gone, and he felt oddly... unaccomplished. Disoriented. What had just happened? He blinked confusededly, watching her walk away and bringing a hand up to his cheek where her lips had been a few seconds ago. Come and see her again?

He sighed and turned back towards his drink. He decided he should probably pay and leave, retreat to somewhere more familiar and safe. Did this city have some sort of reading area...? He reached for his money, only to find the place he usually kept it... empty. He blinked once more and glanced down, and sure enough, there was nothing there.

His confusion grew.

"Where'd it go?"