Katernin Rvmekova

[perspicacity]

The hissed words in the oddly beautiful Infernal tongue, rendered with sultry, intrusive yet almost whimsical tones echo over the bridge-bissected abyss, growing airier as they rebound. Wind howls up from the abyss below, whipping the silken red kerchief adorning the thin, willowy woman who served as catalyst for the rebounding words. The kerchief surrenders fully to the wind's buffet, surely to be torn off and given to the building vortex were it not for the golden headband securing it tightly to the bald and tattooed pate beneath.

The wind's howl increases, the distinct smell of ozone filling the noble nostrils of Katernin Rvmekova, the kerchief's wearer, wrenching from her a breathy, almost orgasmic gasp as the vortex tightens, concentrates and coalesces into the whirling entropy of a massive elemental of air. Almost lasciviously-toned words escape the Red Wizard's lips. "Ahhh, yes, this will suffice. Suffice, indeed." A suitably airy, oddly almost child-like giggle is released in the word's wake to be swept into the elemental's vortex and echo off the adjacent rock walls. A long, deep, steeling inhale follows, pleasure at the tainted air's aroma blossoms upon Katernin's ruby red lips in the form of a sly smile.

"Now, hm, I shall need a proper staff.......the heart of a displacer beast is as good a place to start as any....." The words trail off, another gift to the whorling, decadent winds.

[perspicacity]

A slender woman reclines amongst overstuffed pillows before the hearth of the Regal Griffon Inn, sipping languidly from a small pewter goblet. Despite the woman's slightness, the various patrons milling about the inn seem, perhaps subconsciously, to give the woman a wide berth, none approaching her for innocuous, casual conversation. The less cynical of viewer might attribute this to the woman's aloof manner, the rapt attention her pale blue-violet eyes give to the flickerings of the heath's flames before her or the natural abeyance spawned amongst Greatgaunt's townsfolk toward those assumed to be of the adventuring ilk. A more jaded viewer, however, would attribute this avoidance to the woman's deep scarlet robes, trimmed minutely in polychromatic filligree and the plentitude of glyphs adorning her skin, marking her, assuredly, as a Red Wizard of Thay.

While the woman's visage remains aimed toward the dance of the flames before her, her blue-violet eyes flit to the left, toward the inn's bar counter and the craggy, weathered innkeep, She drinks in his cheerful, amiable disposition, her slight, noble nose wrinkling momentarily. With another gingerly sip from her goblet, the woman rises gracefully, a minute flick of her wrist giving the dregs of her wine to the hungry flames that hiss their objections to the suitability of the offering. Slowly, with a seeming reluctance, the woman navigates the inn's din toward that envisioned counter, some few patrons ceding her, readily, the space required for her unimpeded passage.

Settling her pale-eyed, intrusive gaze upon the innkeep, Katernin Rvmekova lifts her chin, a warm and welcoming smile blossoming upon her ruby-red lips. A sliver of pink tongue runs across those lips then the woman clears her throat softly, coaxing a sultry voice to birth.

"Good day, fair innkeep." The Red Wizard of Illusion speaks, giving the lilt of whimsy to the last three syllables, the faintest hint of mirth creeping into the spark of her eyes, the curl of her lips.

Meeting the woman's gaze with no hint of revulsion, the jaded innkeep responds with amiable, albeit somewhat mechanical tones. "Good eve to you. Would you care for a room?"

Reaching to her hip, the woman produces a pair of documents with a deft gesture, the rolled parchments seemingly seeking her hand from some unseen fold in her robes. "Not at present, hm." She pauses a moment, looking the weathered man over once more, careful to keep her skepticism from her expression. "I am given to understand you are the representative one should speak to in seeking a travelling merchant's license, hm?"

The innkeep looks the Red Wizard over once more, also careful, it seems, to keep his thoughts from laying themselves bare upon his face. "Indeed I am.", he responds at length.

Katernin lays the two documents upon the counter, they unfurl themselves, seemingly, of their own accord, inverted, like two parchment soldiers presenting themselves for inspection before their own parchment sergeant. "As you can see, there is my Adventuring Charter and my Mage Registration," Each document, as named, curls slightly at one corner, as if in salute, the woman's smile broadens at her own whimsical gesture of prestidigitation. "One hopes those shall suffice, hm?" Her right brow arches precisely, two glyphs tattooed in place of removed hair crease at the apex, seeming to become, for a fractional moment, one.

The innkeep nods simply, paying little attention to the subtle gesture of arcane whimsy. "That's enough to prove you're legally permitted within the realm. I'll be needing then thousand gold lions to go along with that."

"Yes, of course, the currency...." Her smile thins. "...the life's blood of the realm." One hand dips, again, to her hip, extracting a pre-weighed bag and idly tossing it upon the counter with a palpable thunk.

The innkeep nods simply at the heaviness of the bag's thunk, seemingly assured of the truth of the bag's suggested contents. He bends, reaches beneath the bar for a readied parchment and lays it upon the counter.

"Splendid." Katernin remarks airily, her pale eyes brightening as they fall upon the document. She peruses it with the remarkable swiftness of a master wizard, digesting the words with naught but a mere glance. She touches one slender finger to a glyph just above her carotid artery. The glyph pulses. She touches the now faintly glowing fingertip to the document, interrupting the innkeep's next words.

"I just need you to....." He trails off, frowning for a moment, then clearing his throat and continuing on undaunted. "~sign~ here.", pointing to the line upon which she'd left her arcane mark.

Katernin banishes the notion of a scowl, donning instead a placid, almost whimsical smile. "Ah, a ~conventional~ signature. How...~quaint~." Deftly, she moves a hand to her bodice, extracting a quill from within. She touches to nib to a small glyph on her opposite wrist then signs beside her mark.

"And here." The innkeep points to another blank line, near the top of the page. Katernin complies.

"And...." The innkeep points once more to a blankness near the center of the page. Katernin sniffs airily, then murmurs "Thrice for Her Favor, hm?", scribbling her mark once more.

"Third time's the charm." The innkeep responds with a faint smirk, nodding once.

"Lovely." The willowy woman responds, widening and warming her smile as the innkeep turns the document, adding his own signature in the required space. He blots the signatures deftly, then rolls up the license, reaching it toward the newly-minted merchant.

"Splendid, good innkeep, you've been a ~peach~." She takes the license, unfurls it, giving it another casual glace, then puckers her ruby-red lips, blowing Kale a soft kiss.

"Congratulations, you now have one of the most boring occupations in Cormyr." The innkeep offers with a small grin.

"Indeed, perhaps, but luckily I've plenty of avocations to occupy myself on the side." She winks slyly, turning. "Do have a marvelous day, hm?"

"Are you sure I can't offer you a room or some of our fresh baked bread?" Kale queries, apparently warming imperceptibly to the woman.

"Alas, no. I've a pressing matter to attend, and ~this~, hm...." She waves the license idly. "...should aid tremendously."

"Very well, do come back....." Kale's words drift toward the woman's back, she already having made directly for the inn's exit.

The woman stops, just before reaching for the door, turns, taking a pair of slight steps back toward the counter. She dons, again, a warm, alluring smile. "Hm, say.....we have a certain tonic at the Enclave that might, hm, let's say make your pate more fertile, if that is something you might wish to pursue. The side-effects are very slight, I am led to believe." She rolls her shoulder through a slight shrug, again turning for the door. "Give it a thought, if you like."