03/07/2001 Gambling Barge, Northharbor, Tar Valon Dozens of game tables stretch out across a fine dark blue carpet. Several chandeliers hang from the ceiling of the interior of this barge, which you enter after a quick walk across the deck. The boat travels up and down river every hour or so, allowing for new passangers to get on and off. A large buffet table stretches across the back of the main room, as well as a fully stocked wet bar. Nothing so coarse as ale is served there, only the best of brandy, wine, expensive whisky and the occasional mixed drink. Women in low cut Saferi style black outfits circulate the room, providing poker chips or serving drinks. There's a similarly clad moneychanger sitting behind a barred window off to the side. Well dressed men sit at game tables, dealing cards, taking bets, watching out for cheaters. So Kyleigh wants to go out of the tower. And Kyleigh wants to break her block. What better way than get Kyleigh drunk? No pain, if she embraces, yippie. Block gone. So Wyntere's given her a dress to wear besides the Accepted Whites. It modesty Kyle. And they are headed into the barge and towards the bar. Modest is good. Kyleigh isn't into baring flesh, as everyone saw last night with her arches. x.x It's pretty clear that she's been crying, and her eyes are still a little red and her skin still a little splotchy, but she's smiling in spite of it. How often does an Accepted get to get drunk with the MoNster's -sanction-? This is awesome! Er.. except that there are too many men around for Kyle's tastes, but she'll deal. If they try anything she'll do to them what she did to Hundy. Muahahahah. .... I think for the sake of the fact that I'm the male in this group, I don't wanna know what she did to Hundy. Oi. Neelkan's having a night out, trying to get away from all the annoying people around the Tower (and especially anyone remotely tied to Denn) and rather wants to get drunk. Not that he likely will. The whole fact that he's one of the Amyrlin's Warders now, and is totally in love with her at that, he wants to be a good one. But a man needs to at least smell ale every so often! On the way to the gambling barge (his choice for tonight because he's never been there and no icky memories of Denn or any other women *cough*Zaidah*cough* who have frustrated and twisted at his emotions lately. Damn women.) he spots a certain orange head of hair and Wyn and moves over to them, "G'eve ladies." Ky's been crying? Either he honestly doesn't notice, or he doesn't want to think about it. Probably the latter. Wyntere turns around at the sound of Neelkan's voice and smiles to him. "Good evening, Neelkan. How are you? What's a nice strong drink with a moderate taste?" Wyntere's asking about alcohol?!? Well, yeah. THen she grins and remembers. "Oh, yeah. The one with..." The Gray stops there. "Nope, you wouldn't like that one Neel. Hmm..." Wyntere glances behind the bar thinking. Nope, she won't mention Kyleigh's tears. You think she wants to see more of them. Let's get the accepted drunk where she doesn't think about them. Just another excuse to stay with Wyntere tonight. As if she needs an excuse to stay with Wyntere. At Neelkan's salutations she looks at him, and bursts into tears again. That's what you both get for trying to ignore them. Um.. just get her drunk fast and then maybe she'll stop, k? :) And no, you don't want to know what she did to Hundy. It wasn't pretty, but it was prettier than what he wanted to do to her. :/ She pats her mother's arm, sniffling. "Help. She's indecisive." Uh.. Neelkan doesn't know how to handle girls crying, so he chews on his lower lip, runs a hand through his hair and says, "Uh.. well.. 'ere's lots, but I don't know if I can recommend one 'at'll taste too good the first time 'round. Whiskey's nice 'n strong, but it'll burn a hole in yer throat if yer not careful." Not literally. "D'ya two need some.. uh.. ya know.. um.. protection?" He shrugs, unsure what to do here. Women (especially teary women who aren't supposed to be teary) confuse the bloody light out of him. Wyntere wrinkles her brow and nods. "Please stick around, Neelkan. I shouldn't be channeling. So protection of Kyleigh sounds great." Nope, Wyntere's not drinking. "If you want anything, let me know and I'll pay for it." She glances to the barkeep and thinks a moment. "Something strong, but sweet for this lady. A virgin strawberry daiquri for me. And whatever the gentleman wants." Wyntere places a gentle hand on Kyleigh's shoulder. "It's over, Kyle. It's all over. Come now, dry your eyes and let's break this thing, alright?" The Gray sighs and thinks about getting herself something to drink too. Bloody Tests. Make Accepted cry like babies. The barkeep hands Kyleigh a nice strong mixed drink. "The faster you drink the better. But don't choke yourself." Actually there are a few mixtures of drinks where you can barely taste any alcohol, but those are the more classy ones that we can't expect a stinky bandit like Neelkan to know about. ;) j/k She wipes her tears away from her eyes. "Protection sounds nice." Not that she's worried as long as there are people around. You know.. some people would be afraid because there were people around.. especially in a tavern... but what can you do? "Sorry mom..." you know how hard those were for her Wyntere! You were there! Oh well, Kyleigh's still sorry. As soon as she gets the drink she sniffs it slightly and then takes a sip, and then following her mother's instructions she gulps the glass down and picks up a napkin to dab at her lips. Apparently Aelgaran etiquette only.. half stuck. Neelkan frowns somemore at Kyleigh, but isn't going to ask. Those Accepted tests sounds like Shayol Ghul itself. Glad he didn't have to take one. His dreams are bad enough. He slips into a seat near them and says, "Just gimme an ale." Ale isn't very potent and he can drink a lot of it and still remain aware, which is what he wants. He did say he would protect the girl after all, and Kaomi might not like him getting smashed. Neelkan frowns somemore at Kyleigh, but isn't going to ask. Those Accepted tests sounds like Shayol Ghul itself. Glad he didn't have to take one. His dreams are bad enough. He slips into a seat near them and says, "Just gimme an ale." Ale isn't very potent and he can drink a lot of it and still remain aware, which is what he wants. He did say he would protect the girl after all, and Kaomi might not like him getting smashed. (re) Wyntere glances to the barkeep. "Something else for her. Anything that tastes halfway decent and is strong. Later, it won't matter." Wyntere sips her drink calmly and cautiously. "Neelkan, the drinks are on me, so don't worry. I brought plenty." She looks to Kyleigh. "Kyleigh, there's nothing for you to be sorry about right now. But thanks for the apology. How's life going, Neelkan?" Wyntere tries to start a conversation. It's best to gauge where Kyleigh's standing as far as drunk. Kyleigh giggles. She's not going to complain, that actually tasted pretty good. The barkeep gives her a skeptical look and then chuckles before putting another glass in front of her. She takes this one a little slower, paying half attention to her glass, and half attention to her companions. "That's right! I heard Kaomi bonded you! Congratulations! Er.. I mean.. Mother." She blushes and glances over at Wyntere, and giggles again. Uh... hopefully this won't bring the conversation around to her own ex-bond... that would put a damper on her mood. "I'm fine with ale, Wyn." Neelkan responds with a smile, taking a good drink on it until the Mistress of Novices asks how life has been treating him. He freezes for a second, as if it's something he'd rather not go into, but then Ky has to bring up Kaomi and he actually coughs and blushes a little. And coughs somemore. And blushes. And finally says, "Uh, ye'h. Kaomi bonded m'. 'anks." He looks at Wyn, then shrugs and adds, "But thin's've been goin' a'right, I guess." If you forget the fact that Zaidah aparently quit and ran off to fight a Blademaster over a guy who threatened to kill him, and he broke Denn's heart and she aparantly brought a boy home. But Denn brought a cute boy home, right Kyleigh? Anyway... Wyntere tilts her head over to Neelkan, "Doesn't sound like you're all that thrilled being bonded to Kaomi. And sounds like other things are bothering, but that's your business. Let me know if you need help with Kaomi." Then Wyntere glances to Kyleigh and smiles. "You're not under stipulations anymore. I don't care if you use titles here. Just relax and enjoy those drinks, hmm?" And yes, let's not forget to mention that Kyleigh loves Denn's boy and has already kissed him -and- broken his heart. Yes, he's adorable, but he should be -mine- dammit! Er.. she didn't -mean- to break his heart! It was all Helios' fault! Kyleigh actually giggles at Neelkan's blush and reaches over to pinch his cheek. Of course her reflexes and aim in this state are both imperfect so he could easily dodge, but that's what she's trying to do. And why does her glass look strangely full? Hasn't she been drinking from it? Gotta fix that. She takes another big gulp. "Of course he's happy with Kaomi! I love Kaomi! She's a niiice lady. Did you hear about the prank we played on her the other day?!" Kyleigh bursts into giggles and continues trying to talk through them. "Wyntere made this inverted illusion of her and we all pretended the illusion was the real Mother and she was -so- pissed! It was -hilarious-!" She slaps a gloved hand on the bartop before laying her head on her arm. "Aaaaah." "No! I'm happy with Kaomi. Though Raeth threatenin' t' kill m' wasn't 'xactly fun." Neelkan is so happy with Kaomi it's sickining. The only thing he'd want to change is he would wish to spend more time with her --/alone/ perferably. That isn't going to happen, so he's happy with it. "Um... uh..." He looks from Wyn to Ky as she goes on about the prank. No comment from the peacock gallery. Don't you mean chicken gallery? No! Peacock! Chicken. Peacock! It sounds kinda like peanut so it works better! Wyntere glances to her daughter and then pinches her slightly on the shoulder to see if it has an effect. "Yeah, it was a great prank. She wasn't that upset, Neelkan. I ended it before she hated us all. I think she laughed over it later, because it was a discovery. Don't worry... if she's ever upset, just send me in to tame her." That's usually Wyntere's job anyway. "Kyleigh, how you feeling? It's about time I saw that beautiful smile on your face. You done with that drink yet?" Now Wyntere starts to worry. She glances around the barge protectively of her daughter. No, no taking advantage of Kyleigh. At least chicken is better than pigeon. But not quite as good as pumpkin. ;) You think people are going to take advantage of Kyleigh with an Aes Sedai and a fluffy pu- I mean a Gaidin protecting her? She lays her head on Wyntere's shoulder. What? Did you just pinch her? Sorry, she's feeling no pain at the moment. Of course.. good luck getting her to channel too. Green eyes glance towards her drink and looks all cute and confused. It's full again. "I'll finish it off." She giggles and tries to drink at the same time which doesn't really work so she gets some of it on her non-Accepted dress, but the rest goes down the hatch. Itadakimasu! Drunk girls scare Neelkan. Badly. He is definately not going to get anymore drunk then he is already, so he waves away a refill as he responds to Wyntere, "Oh, I don't mind when she's upset, really. I mean I get upset 'nough f'r a dozen people! But..." He trails off and looks a little sad for a second. Wyntere looks to her daughter and chuckles. "Kyleigh, I think you've had enough." That glass seems to disappear from in front of Kyleigh and gets replaced with just water. Wyntere isn't worried about the dress. "Do me a favor, Kyle. Embrace for me, please? Or at least try." Don't worry neelkan, Wyntere's got the drunk girl under control. It's walking back into the tower that's scary. "Yeah, I understand that Neelkan. Though I think Kaomi might not be too happy that I forgot about an important rule in Kyleigh's raising last night. But you see, she's a strong one. Wheat. that's what kaomi calls it. Or Sheep." Wyntere shrugs looking at Kyleigh. She also places several coins on the bar to conver the drinks. Embrace? "I can't feel the source, mommy...." She lays her head on the tabletop and closes her eyes. Occasionally she giggles a little and tries to concentrate. But it just ain't happening. "Yeah, mommy forgot about my gloves and I almost went bye bye." She pouts a little... and then giggles again. "Where'd my glass go?" She looks around, pouting again. "That's right! I'm strong!" She flexes and then slips back on her stool. Eeeep! She tries to grab the bartop but.. well.. she misses. Eeeep! Though.. if she does fall that will be a good test of whether she's actually feeling pain or not.... For the moment, Neelkan is staring off to the side and doesn't really understand what they're talking about. One could say he's mopeing a little. Thinking of Kaomi does this lately, because part of him knows this whole love thing is just the same thing that has everyone else acting all funny and when it's over (if it's over) she won't love him anymore and it's kinda sad for the poor boy, mostly because right now he loves her so much and he doesn't know what it would be like for her to suddenly stop returning that love. Master Gaidin or not, he's only nineteen. And emotionally he's little more than a child. And since he's staring off, he doesn't notice Ky's miss. Embrace? "I can't feel the source, mommy...." She lays her head on the tabletop and closes her eyes. Occasionally she giggles a little and tries to concentrate. But it just ain't happening. "Yeah, mommy forgot about my gloves and I almost went bye bye." She pouts a little... and then giggles again. "Where'd my glass go?" She looks around, pouting again. "That's right! I'm strong!" She flexes and then slips back on her stool. Eeeep! She tries to grab the bartop but.. well.. she misses. Eeeep! Though.. if she does fall that will be a good test of whether she's actually feeling pain or not.... Wyntere embraces and slips a cushion of air to break Kyleigh's fall. Nope, she's looking after the girl. And slowly lets it dissipate settling the accepted gently on the ground. The Gray sighs. This thought didn't work. Alright, next the tower will hear Kyleigh's screams throughout it. Wyntere lets go of the source and as she slips off the barstool, then room starts spinning. Her blue eyes close to stop it. "Neel..?" There's a hesitance in Wyntere's voice. "I'm going to need your help getting by home." Please go away. Please.... "Kyleigh, you alright?" "Mommy? Mommy what's wrong?" Kyleigh takes a full minute trying to get up to her feet. The cushion of air is too soft and squishy and moves around too much, but she does eventually use the barstool to help her climb to her feet. Hey, Wynt, this was -your- idea. "I'm ok mommy. You shouldn't have channeled." No, she didn't feel it, just the effects of it. She wraps her arms around Wyntere and rests her cheek against her back. "Don't be hurt mommy. I can't heal you now.." Huh? Neelkan's head comes up and he's pulled out of his thoughts, glancing over quickly. Ack! Ky fell! He kicks himself mentally and pushs off of the stool, "Of course, Wyn. Blood 'n ashes, I'm sorry. I.. I shouldn't.. Forgive m'." He shouldn't have got lost in his thoughts. And he actually sounds genuinely sorry. He moves to stand next to the two women and offer arms to them so he can half-carry them back to the Tower, "Let's get goin'. Ya two look like ya need some sleep." Wyntere steadies herself for a moment and the world stops spinning. "I'm okay, daughter. You couldn't heal this anyway. I should have known this wouldn't break your block. But it was worth a try. It'd most likely be dangerous for you to channel right now." Wyntere reaches down and pats the accepted's hand. "Neelkan, you don't mind escorting us do you? I shouldn't be channeling just yet." Wyntere smiles to Neelkan softly and takes his arm. "It's alright, Neelkan. No one got hurt. This will go away with sleep tonight. One more good night's rest and I'll be fine." Wyntere looks to be recovering just fine. Small spell that was all. "Watch Kyle on the way back. Don't let anyone touch her, please?" Not after what happened last time. Wyntere doesn't know about what happened the last time. It was in the arch, remember? ;) Normally.. she would try to walk on her own, even falling and everything rather than take a -boy's- arm... even Neelkan's. But she's drunk, so she's not really thinking and she does take the arm, laying her head against his shoulders. "Mommy... I don't feel so good." Icky... with as much as she drank... it's highly likely she won't be able to hold it down... especially since she's never really gotten drunk before. Oh there was the time he slipped some alcohol into her tea but... she's totally smashed right now and there's a difference. "Puuurrrrrr." She pets Neelkan's upper arm. "Gooood puppy." She cackles and then dissolves into giggles. Sorry Neel... she's drunk, forgive her? ;) "I'll see ya both 'ere." But then... Neelkan glances down at Ky and frowns a little. He isn't a puppy. Sigh. But he doesn't say anything, instead he starts to half-carry them both out the door, careful to keep an eye on a certain red head so he doesn't get anything yucky on his clothes. You'd think bandits would be used to getting vomited on by drunks... Wyntere walks alright and is watching Kyleigh. Yep, Wyntere's night is not going to be filled with sleep. Oh well. "Neelkan, need me to watch her other side? I'll be alright. It was just a small moment of dizziness. She's not going to be holding that down." The Gray will pay for it in the morning. Oh well. Poor Neelkan. Poor Wyntere. "I'm ok mommy," but as soon as they get off the barge and onto the dock Kyleigh drops Neelkan's arm and falls to her hands and knees and.. well.. she loses her alcohol over the edge of the dock, but at least most of it goes into the water and doesn't leave a mess for someone else to clean up. And this kids, is why alcohol in excess is bad. It's not a pretty sight. Sorry. x.x Neelkan doesn't say anything, just kneels down beside her (well, mostly /behind/ her) and waits for her to finish. He doesn't like this very much, especially since she's a girl, and it's painful to watch a girl get sick (for him it is), but he's seen it before, so he doesn't look too disgusted. It isn't on /him/ at least! Wyntere has been here before Kyleigh. Something called her first child. Kneeling down on the other side of Kyleigh, Wyntere holds her to keep the accepted from going over the edge. She pulls back the girl's hair and rubs her back gently. The mistress has also been through this with over channeling novices. "Kyle, let us know when you're ready to move again. And we'll get you to the tower." Kyleigh finally finishes and wipes her mouth with the back of her sleeve (-not- her gloves!) and she sits back on her heels with teary eyes, just because... your eyes tear up with you do that. Plus it's rathre embarassing, but when she's done she's -much- more sober. "Sorry," she whispers horsely. Water, water sounds good, but she can wait for it until they get back to the Tower. And it will have the added benifit of keeping anyone from wanting to kiss her. As if anyone would want to kiss her! Denn's little boy and Helios don't count. Neelkan helps her stand again and he supports her, offers his arm to Wyn as well, "Come on, ya might not be dizzy right now, but ya won't d' anyone any good if ya /d'/ get dizzy. I won't be able t' catch ya if I'm carryin' Ky." Wyntere nods to Neelkan. "Alright." She says softly. "Kyle, it's not your fault. I wasn't watching your limit like I should have. You'll be fine though." The Gray sighs and let's Neelkan escort them both back. Kyleigh hangs on Neelkan's arm as they head back for the Tower, and as far as Kyle's upset stomach.. they make it back without any more incidents. Of course they're all probably reeking of alcohol, or at least the Accepted is. "Sorry mommy." Yes, she's apologizing, for apologizing. And the Master Gaidin enters the Tower with a woman on each arm. One a drunk Accepted, the other the Mistress of Novices, and he ignores any looks and carries them up to Wyn's room. Oh, they had better not blame this on him. ;) Of -course- they're going to blame this on him! Women. Poor Peacock I can see the headline now: Red Chicken seduces mother and daughter. .... And he didn't even get any. No fair. Neelkan, the infamous woman hater returned the the Tower with two women on his arms, two pretty women on his arms as a matter of fact. Neither Kyleigh nor Wyntere looked better for the wear. Kyleigh at least was reeking of alochol and Wyntere was exhibiting all the symptoms of channeling exhaustion. Just what were they doing out in the city? Has Neelkan fallen in love with yet another pair of women? A mother and daughter pair no less! And just what did they do when he escorted them back to Wyntere's room?"