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THE THIRSTY MINNOW, EARLY EVENING
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Brunilda walks into the Minnow, perhaps a bit more carefully than usual. Something to do with the cloth-wrapped, mildly indignant bundle on her shoulder. It has been quite the day for Brunilda and Fiora since they discovered the giraffe had gotten several downgrades in size in the morning. Brunilda whispers with a bit of a smile: "Well, here we are at least. No reason to stay all day home, right, even when we can't really spar like this?"
Fiora is mostly just all bundled up in the cloth, having wrapped it around herself like a mix between a poncho and a blanket. She's used to looking down from heights, but it's still super weird to be sitting up so small. She's been moping a bit about not being able to work out or spar or... do much of anything on her usual list today. She doesn't have to raise her voice, but just talking sounds like a squeaky whisper to anyone not too close, "Yeah, you're right. And I'd get stir crazy in the house... especially with it being so... big. It's weird."
Gareth idles at the bar, a half-eaten plate of food on the counter and a mug of one of his preferred drinks beside him. He seems relaxed at the moment, if a little unobservant as Brunilda enters the main room, and is mostly just whiling away the time doing... not much of anything for once.
Brunilda gives Fiora a sideways glance: "You're probably even worse than I am when it comes to not having something to do." She notices the wolf, then gives Fiora a look: "Oh. It's Gareth. Do we want to...?"
Fiora rolls her eyes, giving a slightly overdramatic loll of her head, "Gareth? Ugggh. Yeah. We should get this over with. He'll need some time to get it out of his system."
Brunilda lets out a small giggle despite herself - she can't help it, the possum on her shoulder is pretty adorable - and steps towards the counter: "Hey there, Gareth."
Gareth turns to look over his shoulder upon hearing the sound of someone big moving up beside him, only to smile and offer a quick little salute with the hand holding his fork. "Hey, evenin', Brunilda. Did ye just out o' work, or takin' some time away from the house fer a bit?" He glances at the possum on her shoulder, then tilts his head, "With... er... a new pet fer ye and Fiora, I guess?"
Fiora crosses her arms, "Pet? Really?"
Brunilda winces a bit: "Not quite, Gareth. We've been having a day off, cause..." She glances at Fiora: "Well, this happened."
Fiora sighs, and waves at Gareth from Brun's shoulder.
Gareth blinks, then shifts subtly as he turns to face the two properly. "Er... wait... when ye say 'we', do ye mean that..." He slowly points at the possum, "That's Fiora?"
Brunilda nods, stealing another glance at her girlfriend: "Afraid so."
Fiora: "Of course it's me." She waits a few moments, watching Gareth.
Gareth glances between the possum and Brunilda for a few seconds, his eyes shifting from one to the other, then back again. "Yer... pullin' me leg, right?"
Brunilda sighs, then picks up Fiora and sets her onto the bar table as she herself sits down on a stool: "You know, I really wish I was. Right, love?"
Fiora braces herself as Brun sits down, but then turns and nods at Gareth. "Magic basement, right? I fell through the floor into some kinda barrels, and here we are. So yeah it's me."
Gareth shifts his eyes back to Fiora again as she talks, and the corners of his mouth quirk up in response to her squeaky voice. He does a valiant job of keeping a straight face, but it's pretty obvious he'll probably break sooner rather than later. "Ah... r-right, so ye got hit by magic. Just had to get in on the fun after I'd gotten hit with Ms. O'Williams' magic out at the generator, eh?"
Brunilda sighs: "Turns out we indeed have a basement we didn't know of. Someone was doing some kind of... research, in there, a long time ago."
Fiora raises an eyebrow at Gareth, "Ah, and here it comes..."
Gareth snerks in response to Fiora's voice as he struggles to keep the laughter contained as he nods at Brunilda. "I... I s-see, aye... Strange magic. G-glad it was just... th-this." He shifts his look back to Fiora again and tries to nonchalantly wave a hand, "And... what? I've not said anythin' yet, lass!"
Brunilda eyes between the two, and opts to wave for a beer instead of getting inbetween old friends right this moment. She'll intervene if the need comes.
Fiora points at Gareth, "Yes! Exactly. 'Yet'. She glances down at Brun, considering a beer for herself as well, but... "Eh, probably would get pretty drunk pretty fast with a beer that big..."
Brunilda glances at Fiora: "You can have a sip of mine."
Gareth actually takes a few seconds to lean against the counter and grip his muzzle as he tries to keep things contained. "Ye might have some... h-heh... issues tryin' to eat the meals ye n-normally do, as well, F-F-Fiora. I, er... snrk..." He trails off, losing the battle of self-control as what initially starts as a stifled laugh turns into a rolling giggle, then a hearty chuckle... and finally a proper gale of laughter.
Fiora glances back at Gareth, rolling her eyes, "Yep, there it is."
Brunilda is torn in between loyalty for her partner... and the admittedly pretty comical situation. She attempts to hide her smile into her pint.
Gareth completely ignores his food for the time being as he reaches out and picks up Fiora in her cloth bundle with a grin, his shoulders still quaking in mirth. "H-how could I possibly keep me laughter in check, lass? Look at ye! Yer so tiny compared to before, it's adorable!"
Fiora snorts, "I mean, I get it... but I'm not 'adorable', I'm just small."
Brunilda glances at Fiora with a smile: "Both? You're still pretty to me." If there's a bit of a smirk in the elephant's expression, to her credit she's at least trying to hide it.
Gareth chuckles again as he sets Fiora back down on the counter, grinning ear to ear all the while. "See? Even Brunilda thinks yer adorable, Fiora. Though I guess that's none too surprisin', eh?"
Fiora lifts a hand to her chest, feigning injury, "You too, Brun?" She shakes her head, glancing between the two, "No fair ganging up on me like this."
Brunilda lifts her trunk to Fiora's cheek: "Hey, no harm, love. You're still you, and that's what matters."
Gareth nods as his urge to laugh starts to fade again... if only barely. "Aye, I'm glad yer okay, Fiora, really. Still, ye have to admit that ye'd be laughin' too, if I ran into ye out o' nowhere lookin' like that."
Fiora reaches her hand up to caress Brun's trunk. "Always~." She nods to Gareth, "Oh done already? I mean, you're right. If it had happened to you, I'd definitely still be laughing."
Brunilda sighs with a smile: "Honestly this is so weird, I don't know what I'd do if it happened to me."
Gareth chuckles again. "I mean... I could keep laughin' if ye prefer it that way. Won't be too hard fer me to do, considerin'."
Fiora crosses her arms at Gareth, "No, I think you're all find stopping it right there. Thankfully, Brun is still big enough for both of us, and we're figuring out what to about it before we take a boat to Vamas and reach out to a Guild De-curser."
Brunilda shrugs: "...or whatever it takes to fix this, yeah. There's a few loose pieces and I'm not really all that magic-savvy."
Gareth sighs a bit, letting the last of his mirth pass quietly, though he seems to be in quite a good mood after all of that. "So... hidden basement, no idea who set it up, or when it got set up... and it was full o' barrels o' some kind o'... changin' magic that made ye into a possum? Any way ye can figure ye can fix it without makin' it worse before goin' to a de-curser?"
Fiora shrugs, "Full of barrels, but they were all empty, near as we can tell. Lucky me just fell into the one that must've had the last of whatever was being worked on. As for fixing it, uh, well... you know I was never much good at fixing stuff. So I'm just keeping my shit together and letting Brun lead on that." She pats the elephant's shoulder with her hand, smiling down at her.
Brunilda gives a sheepish smile: "I will try my best, though... well, not really my department either, all that magic. Figure out what clues I can, maybe find a way from there?"
Gareth hums and nods as he shifts in his seat again. "Well, if ye need any help, let me know, aye? Not sure what I can do fer the moment, but I'm here if ye need it all the same."
Fiora grins at Gareth, "Knew you'd get a kick out of this whole situation. But I knew you'd be there for us too."
Brunilda smiles at Gareth as she lifts a hand to touch Fiora's side: "Happy to have you around, Gareth."
Gareth smiles at the two in turn. "I mean, ye know I'm goin' to laugh if the situation calls fer it and it doesn't seem dangerous. Won't stop me from helpin' out if ye need it, both o' ye."
Fiora laughs, "Oh, I know it. Just don't be expecting me to help you with any training, sparring, or uh, heavy lifting. You know, for awhile at least."
Brunilda chuckles softly: "At least I'm still able to help with those... well, not to the same degree as she is, but you know."
Gareth chuckles again. "Well, all reasonable thoughts, aye. I wouldn't want to get too easy a win off o' ye, Fiora. Brunilda is just goin' to have to make a good sparrin' partner until ye get things fixed."
Fiora ponders a moment, "I bet I could manage some kind of uh, flip thing. You know. Use your body weight against you?"
Brunilda shrugs: "Worth a try?"
Gareth snerks again as he looks at Fiora's tiny frame. "If ye want to give it a shot, ye can try it right here."
Fiora glances at the Barkeep. "I wouldn't want to break all the furniture in the bar while I mop the floor with you, so we'll just have to assume I can do it and move on."
Brunilda lets out a giggle at that: "Sounds about right, Fiora."
Gareth grins. "Aye, yer ability to gain leverage in a match is somethin' to fear, lass. Anyway... I'm guessin' ye both came here to get somethin' to eat?"
Fiora nods, "I'm hungry for something different, and there's just not a lot of meats in the house since we usually don't have much taste for it."
Brunilda gives Fiora a look: "Yeah... that bit weirds me out, but cravings are real for you. Let's see what we can get."
Gareth tilts his head. "Meat, hm? I could probably recommend a couple o' good dishes here at the Minnow. Not sure if yer tastes are anythin' like mine, but it'll be a start at least, aye?"
Fiora: "I'm just rolling with it. At the very least, it's a weird extra experience, you know?"
Brunilda nods: "Best way to... deal. Not sure I could, but we'll get through this together."
Gareth nods and makes an order with the barkeep for one of his usual dishes for Fiora to sample, along with whatever Brunilda wants to order. As they wait, they continue to pass the time with idle chatter, along with the occasional jab from Gareth to Fiora, just because.