Rhea caught wind of the bounty on her head, the call for mercenaries and quest-seekers. What else was there to do but drink?

She slipped into New Seabreeze in the evening. No one in town had seen her face while she worked; deception and subjugation were standard for employees of the Company of Knowing. They had no idea Rhea was responsible for coordinating the attacks on their home. She could order drinks at the Underlook without fear.

But then she collided with a Youth.

(Rhea) Rh "Gods damn–"

She fell on her ass in the cobblestone street, her yelp cutting off her insults. The young adventurer looked down at Rhea and reached a glove hand to her, an apologetic look on her face.

(Youth 1) Y1 "I'm so sorry! I was rushing to meet my party at the inn and–"

Rhea's back hurt. She didn't want this girl's help or her excuses. She got to her feet with a hiss and pushed past her to enter the bar.

Y1 "I'm…sorry."

Rhea glanced back to see her staring, hand recoiled and fingers curling back. The door slammed shut behind Rhea. She knew the "drinking-aged only after Xpm" would be eye-level with the kid, and grinned to herself.

The fellow manning the door glanced at Rhea and then nodded vaguely. He'd seen her before, but even so, it had been a long time before anyone questioned her adulthood. She hadn't needed to use her forged identification once.

Rhea had been coming more frequently as her inevitable assassination drew closer. Because of this, she noticed for the first time some unfamiliar faces at the bar. She sat at the far end of the counter.

(Bartender) Bt "Evenin', Ray."

A bard stood on a small stage in the corner of the room, humming quietly into the night.

Rh "Hi."

Bt "Same as yesterday?"

Rhea nodded.

Echo, the local Ranger, was here tonight. She lifted her glass to Rhea as she entered the establishment.

She didn't know.

Rhea took a deep swig as soon as her glass was full.

One of the two newcomers was a man with vibrant red hair. She felt a glimmer of attraction, and the brief pang of interest reminded Rhea that she was still, in fact, human. She liked red-heads.

The other new individual sat alongside him. They were more ambiguous

A more ambiguous person sat alongside him, dark-haired and handsomely beautiful. He made some hand gestures–ah, sign language?

The man laughed and shoved his neighbor, and they nearly toppled off their stool without a word of protest, their mouth becoming a taut line.

She thought about her subordinates. They were the ones the villagers knew the faces of. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't enjoy a drink with them here. But even back at the tower, she avoided interacting with them.

It had been years since she'd had a drink with her sister. If anything, that might be the only thing she'd regret, if she was doomed to die tomorrow.

But she was happy, Rhea thought. She was okay.

The red-haired man's cheeks were flushed with a red almost as vibrant.

(Zeke) Ze "Hey!"

He had an accent she couldn't quite place. When the bartender scribbled some words on a napkin and slid it in front of him, she confirmed that the redhead was Deaf.

Rh "You got any family?"

"My parents. A sister."

Iz "..."

Rh 

Rhea lifted her glass to the others in the room, her cheeks now just as flushed as Zeke's head.

Rh "A toast,

to these friends and family. To my sister, wherever she may be"

Ze "My sister's dead."

Rh "Oh, god."

"Uh."

"To family!"

The sorrowful stare Izzy gave her made her realize that wasn't a good toast, either.

Echo gestured at Rhea to sit down. She can handle this.

Ec "A toast to good drink and decent drinking buddies."

"Just to you. Just think of you, right now. A warm seat and slaked thirst. An instance of comfort in this shitty world."

The rest of the clients had left by now. It was just the bartender and the four acquaintances.

Ec "And a good night's sleep."

Izzy nods triumphantly. "...I'll toast to that."

He & Izzy had been traveling for a week or so before this evening. They were quiet, apparently, and they enjoyed that they didn't need to speak to communicate with Zeke.

His sign language was bad.

Echo knows sign and interprets Rhea's toast. Zeke's gaze was distant and sad.

Echo knows Zeke's parents maybe - did I mention this somewhere before?

Ec (Echo) "Zeke's taken a few jobs here before." She signed as she spoke. 

The tower is empty.

Zeke and Izzy ascend the wooden spiral staircase. It’s carved from the innards of the tree that serves as the tower’s base. Repurposed vines connect dusty machinery, string together researchers’ abandoned equipment. 

“Where?” Izzy speaks in Sign Language, his finger waving, his brow furrowed.

Zeke locks eyes with them and signs simultaneously as he says, “I don’t know.”

The job was to take out a dozen or so Company cultists using this structure as a base. The village described it as though 

He feels a gentle tug on his sleevesedfsd sda 

He feels vibration all around him.

This was not how his sister trained him to fight. He was Deaf and she had hearing, so there were a few fundamental differences to their style.

He feels the wind on each hair on his arm. He feels when a creature approaches, even if it doesn't produce vibrations on the ground. Here in the windy forest especially, it almost overloads Zeke's senses.

hum. hum. hum.

Different objects, creatures, all with a different beat.

In the heart of the forest, he can almost feel the vibrations in his traveling companion’s throat. It feels strange

(Zeke has green/partially green eyes–wind-attuned.) x

you work, then you die.

she looked up at him, and her eyes said the same thing.

this was another job. another stepping stone, another bill to pay.

his time wandering off the beaten path was long-gone.

they would complete their jobs, or die trying. though, the woman looked like she was too tired to bother doing the former.

The bags under her eyes, curtains aching to be closed