A Fine Line -open-

[Yu Lifen (Harley)]

There was no particular reason as to why she was here. Lifen heard her family was here recently, that her father had felt it was time to settle down here, but upon her arrival, she was mistaken. Her family had left a day earlier, only here to restock and now she was in a foreign settlement. Having already checked into an inn, she went outside to wander the settlement. She paused at a fruit stall leaning down, the aroma overwhelming. Standing up, she pointed to a peach. After paying, she left the market and pocketed the fruit; the settlement was loud, bustling with small stalls filled with fruits of every color imaginable.

The children ran around, playing games and enjoying the weather. One child seemingly small and nimble was running with them, showing his strength not through his physicality, but through the way he carried himself, it brought a smile to Lifen’s lips. What Lifen liked most about the place was the fact that while she did get the occasional stare, most just continued on. There wasn’t the usual boisterous sound of a drunken man for the tavern was left at the edge of the settlement so the drunks could go about their problems far away from the settlement.

With nothing more to do, she made her way to the tavern, eyes scanning the settlement as she walked. There was no one following her, she was sure of it, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t be cautious. As the sounds got farther, the place got darker. The tavern was hiding away in a corner in between many fruit tree’s. The fruits dead looking, obviously no one picked them because of the tavern. Lifen walked in, ignoring the stares she received. The only women available were the hired whores meant to entertain the drunken men… some tavern. One man, very drunk was enjoying the company of two women. He threw gold around like it was nothing. Rolling her eyes, she sat down in a corner table, ordering rum from the waiter and propping her legs up on the chair beside her. She might as well get comfortable. As her drink came, she took a sip of it, the stuff wasn’t as strong as the rum she drank during her pirate days, but it would do. Lifting the glass once more to her lips, she shut her eyes and leaned back on her chair… yes she was going to get very comfortable here.

[Cao Cao]

Zhi was tired, very tired. Zhi had never ridden so far and long in his life. It was very...invigerating. Zhi noticed a tavern and he dicided to make that the place where he shall stay for the day. He needed a good rest for a little bit. Zhi tied his horse up on a pole near the tavern. Zhi entered and walked towards the man who looked like he owned the tavern."One room please. Also can I get a drink?" Zhi put down some gold that should have sufficed for both a drink and a room.

[Ryu Yin]

Ryu Yin strode into town a broken man. He was so easily robbed of every penny. Every night he stayed in that town he would spend even more money on those courtesans. He was ashamed how easily he was taken advantage of. It shamed him. He was broke, he hadn't had food or water for days, and he never got to play with that grade A rack on that sexy minx. He felt weak and on the brink of death. If only he had money.

Thinking of money Ryu collapsed out of exhaustion. People passed him by, a child walked on his soon to be corpse. Was this the end? he asked himself. His face in the dirt he turned to the side watching the passing crowd. His vision blurred, everything was going dark. His soul slowly rose from his body to turn into nothingness. He wondered how could this be, how can he be dieing. And then it hit him. His soul returned and his vision came back with clarity his body gained strength to walk once more. All he had to do was steal it. How could he forget that it was that easy to get money.

Rising from his grave Ryu bumped into one person after another taking their money for himself. In 5 minutes time he had collected enough money to buy as much food and drink to fill himself up, get a room, and then be on his merry way. But before that he had to escape from the scene of the crimes. Taking shelter in a local tavern at the edge of town he was most likely safe. Turning to the barkeep he put down some gold in exchange for a meal, a drink, and a room for the night.

[Fu Sheng]

Sheng had left earlier from his estate. He didn't travel far away from his home region often, but he had heard reports of an experienced war veteran in the area, a suitable source for his new work. As a writer Sheng would have to travel far away to obtain tales, political event registries and battle reports from experienced soldiers and now rumours had brought him to the fruitful land of San Jiang.
Upon arriving to the region, nightfall had already fallen over the land and the settlement was practically desert. His journey was not over yet, but this would be as far as he went on a horse for the day. He got off his horse in a clumsy way, since he hadn't that much of a riding experience, aided by his servant, Huo Jin. There weren't pretty much places to go at that hour, but a tavern seemed to be welcoming people at that hour. He headed along the road and as he got close to the place, he looked carefully at the environment from the outside. Fruits from a tree laid idly on the ground already rotting.

"Such a waste of nature's blessings..." - thought Sheng to himself.

He walked inside and was even more disgusted. He was not accustomed to such common places. The stench of drink, the horrible sight of young women selling themselves to common and filthy men emanated from such place. There were a few stares upon Sheng's arrival, it was not usual to see a man dressed with such expensive clothes, an indicator of Sheng's social status. He made no case of them and proceeded to the counter and requested a room for the night, he thought for a brief moment and decided to order a drink as he was not yet ready to go to sleep. He faced his servant and asked him if he would drink, but he refused stating he would remain vigilant. Six men entered the tavern moments after, they were clothed as regular peasants but an acute intuition would find they were armed. Sheng occupied a table at a silent corner of the room along with Jin, hopefully to get away from such a disgusting environment, while four of the men occupied a table close to his' and the other two occupied another one not too far from it as well. Two whores approached Sheng's table smiling, in hope of finding a rich spoiled man to draw the fortune from and they were beautiful too. But in the moment they approached Sheng's table he stretched his left palm and shook his head. They putted an offended look on their faces and turned their backs to the scholar. He despised such women, selling their bodies to complete strangers was an abomination for him. No woman should get laid with a man she does not love in his way of seeing things. The waiter approached the two of them moments after carrying a mug of ale just as Sheng requested.
Jin was starting to get concerned with the constant stares from the settlement folks and whispered to Sheng:

"My lord these people are starting to worry me, perhaps we should keep riding towards Yuxi no?"

Sheng kept sipping from his mug, the ale tasted terribly but it would have to suffice for the night.

"If you do not pay them attention they will eventually look away, besides I'm sure they would not try anything stupid, just calm down and all will go back to normality." - he said in a calm tone whilst having his drink, relaxed as he ignored the stares of the settlement folk.

[Yu Lifen (Harley)]

Two more men joined in and Lifen was at this point to interested in her rum to pay attention. Realizing that soon it would be done, she raised a hand and one of the ladies approached her obviously confused that a woman here was actually in here to drink and not asking for a job. "I could really use a bottle of this. Rather than waste your time with men like that," she pointed to the drunken man the woman was with earlier, obviously the man was about to pass out, Lifen returned her gaze to the woman, "...you could be making some decent money by actually serving your patrons in other useful ways." she placed a coin in the woman's hand and ordered her away with a flick of her hand. The women came back with a bottle, clearly confused by the was Lifen acted.

Yu Lifen took her bottle and placed it on the table, she took another small sip of her rum and wanted to groan, it was so weak! It was as if the bottle it came out of was only halfway filled with rum and the other half water. Lifen knew this wasn't the case... she was just used to much stronger stuff than this. Rubbing the tattoo on her arm, her eyes flickered to the two men who had recently entered. The guys were getting rooms in the tavern, probably not having enough for the inn, but of course to each his own.

Another man entered, he was different. Well dressed, obviously he seemed out of place in here. What worried her were the six men that came after, if they caused trouble she would not hesitate to take them out, something about them... they were armed and they were skilled. Taking another swing at her drink, she crossed her legs on the chair, she would spend most of the night here, there was nothing much to do anyways.

[Cao Cao]

Zhi took a drink of his ale and took a seat at a nearby vacant table. Zhi noticed a few people that he did not know come into the tavern after him. Zhi looked around and saw a woman sit in the corner. She did not look like any of the average tavern wenchens. She was...different. On closer inspection, she was also quite beautiful. Interested on why someone as beautiful as her would be in such a wretched place like this, Zhi began to walk towards her. Once he got to her, Zhi bowed and said,"Hello, m'lady. May I ask your name and why you would be at such a wretched place? Oh, I almost forgot my manners, my name is Zhi Fang."

(Sorry, I was in a rush.)

[Ryu Yin]

Ryu Yin yawned after he took his food and drink to a secluded table with little light. Ryu just wanted to eat in peace for he was starving. But his attention was quickly drawn to the finely dressed man and his friends. It was like the guy was asking for trouble. To come into a run down place like this where many patrons are apparent criminals looking like that, it's idiotic. It was only a matter of time til some drunk or some hot shot cockroach tries to do something. Which might work well for himself if those friends don't do their job.

Ryu took a gulp from his ale and reconsidered the scenario that played in his head. "There is probably not too many dangerous individuals here considering that this ale tastes like shit. If a crime boss made this his hangout he would probably make sure the drinks here was better stocked." Ryu thought before his thoughts were interrupted by a waitress asking him if he needed anything. Ryu smirked and replied "Umm, yeah this ale tastes like shit so I'll have a glass of water as long as that isn't filled with the same thing." Ryu spoke with an annoyed tone as he handed the girl his drink.