The Jig with the Jug

    It is early in the morning hours, but the bar perhaps never stops. Adventurers of all types come in and out of this place. Though today of today it is a little more lively inside.

Inside these walls of the bar ran by the Dwarf named Mia Grand, is a mountain slate blue Imp, with hoofs of onyx black, and glowing eyes of lavender. As the music plays she dances for the patrons of the bar.

Her hips sway in time of the beat, her hoofs easily glide along the floor and she arches her back at times as well. In mid-performance, as she arches her back to the side, she slides her fingers up her skin, before standing up as her arms reach her head, claws sliding along her horns, and then with a 'snap' of her finger in time to the music, she conjures to flaming orbs in her hands.

With these orbs, she adds it to her dance flare like light streamers as she continues to sway to the music.

Despite the early hour, Kita is already seemingly at 'work'. The young woman walks in, papers shoved into a book under her arm, and pretty much claims a table for herself. There is plenty of space at this hour, so it's likely fine. She begins to arrange the papers, some looking to be sketches of people, others looking to be mock-ups of various fighting scenes.

When one of the serving staff comes over, she orders herself a tea. Anything for that sweet caffeine buzz that she so desperately needs at the moment. Then, the Imp is back to looking down at her drawings, lightly pushing her glasses up her nose.

It isn't until the flaming orbs start to cast a strange light onto the page in front of her that she looks up, actually giving full attention to Katherine for the first time. If she wasn't quite so tired, she probably would have noticed before. Blinking, Kita's pencil taps on the page in an idle animation as she watches the performance.

    As the music continues, the mountain slate blue imp continues her dance. Her hands keeping those orbs of flame moving, before she lets them drop off her finger tips. Which case they spin around her, as she hips shift to one side, slowly rotating her body, as her arms move along her side and up into the air, as she holds her wrist in with her free hand.

When the music goes to end, she arches her back, going down on one knee with her hand going up into the air. The orbs flying up, in a twirling fashion, before they explode high above as the music ends, sending down harmless wisps of flame raining down and fading away before they touch anyone or any table.

She holds for a moment, smiling a bright smile on her lips. Then she rises up to her feet with a careful sweep of her hoof, before placing out her hands to the claps from several of the patrons there, "Thank you my lovely lords and ladies!" She says to them all. "Thank you for your gracious applause!" Then goes to politely curtsey, before rising to her feet once more.

Though her lavender eyes drift over to Kita and her many papers. Perhaps catching a glimpse of her art. She then makes her way over, with a slight sultry walk over toward her. "I must apologize," She says openly to Kita, "I saw just a glimpse of one of your sketches, mayhap could I see it a little closer, my dear?"

The stormy eyes of the black mage continue to follow the motions through the end of the dance, clearly enthralled by the motion and skill. When it ends, she actually reaches a hand up, catching one of those flickering embers on the tip of her finger, smiling to herself before she joins some of the others in offering applause.

With the performance over, her head dips back forward, ready to dive head-first back into her work, when an unfamiliar voice has her head lifting again. "Oh." It's just a soft sound, but she smiles easily enough, reaching a hand up to brush a few strands of white hair out of her eyes. "I hope I didn't cause you any distraction. I just find this is a good place to work in the early morning, at least until it gets flooded around breakfast time."

With the other Imp's interest in her drawings, Kita just extends a hand, as if she were offering out whichever one Kat may want to look at. "Feel free. Most of them are half-finished. Either sketches for the Lost Adventurer Network, or some potential designs for tournament fliers." That seems to be what she is working on now, sketching out silhouettes that look like a human and a salamander in battle stances.

    The other imp smiles gently to Kita, "Oh, you were no distraction, my dear. Even though I do love your hat, it is quiet adorable." She says motioning to it.

Once she sits down, she does so with a bit of a sidesaddle on the bench, and crosses one leg over the other. She pulls one over with gentle care, as she gently rests her thumb claw between her teeth. Her hoof foot gently swys. She then rests the picture back down, before just as carefully moving it back to Kita, "You do beautiful work."

"I figured it went with the whole... black mage, witch aesthetic." Kita replies, chuckling softly as she reaches up, tipping the brim of the hat slightly towards the other Imp. "I love the combination of black and blue coloration."

Her eyes follow Kat as she sits, but she doesn't seem protective over the drawings. It's at this point that the serving staff brings over her tea, and Kita neatly tucks the pencil behind one ear, taking up the mug and sipping at it with a satisfied expression on her face. Apparently someone has taught the people at the inn how to properly brew tea.

"Why thank you. It was what I had hoped to do for a living before everything went haywire over New Years." She explains, "Now? Who knows. But people manage to keep me busy enough. There's always someone needing an artist for some purpose or another."

    "They are wonderful colors." The fellow imp remarks, "But I would expect nothing less from such a talented individual who sees the world in her own image and skill." Those lavender eyes watch the waitress, before she observes Kita taking a sip of her tea.

The imp traces her onyx, black claw along the wood work of the table. "Art is a gift, be it in singing, drawing, or even in the dance. The gods those of us adventurers with those unique skills and it is up to us to use them," Then she raises up that claw to look at it, finding a piece of crumb, "or not." Then she flicks it off in a random direction.

"Though," Her hand goes to rest very gently against her own chest. "Do forgive my manners. My name is Lady Magus Katherine Tanzer. It is such a pleasure to meet you, my dear."

"Not so much seeing the world in my own image." Kita finishes another drink of her tea before setting it down in a space a little bit away from the rest of her work. It is likely force of habit, since artists have a tendency to accidentally turn drinks into paint water if they are not careful. "I mostly draw from what I see. Though the Lost Adventurer portraits have been a challenge. Drawing from other people's memories of people."

She reclaims her pencil from behind her ear, lightly fixing a line on the Salamander's tail that she is drawing, lightly chewing on her lower lip as her eyes look away from Kat and down to the paper. "Though, I did used to do some art commissions from time to time. It paid the bills."

The idea that what she can do is a gift is met with a 'mmm' of sound. "I dabble in music a little, as well. I probably wouldn't have it any other way. Art is one of the few true ways of expression. Especially when most of the people I know aren't so happy with how I express myself." She smirks.

The introduction causes her to look up again, though, inclining her head in a polite, Japanese fashion. "Kita Blackthorne. I'm an Elementalist, technically, though I consider myself a Black Mage, or Witch if you prefer."

    Katherine listens to her, hands coming to rest in her lap, eyes staying focused on her. Her imp tail slowly curling and relaxing from time to time. "I understand fully on the art of expression. Dancing is much the same for me, along with magic." She says bringing up her hand to let a few sparks of light dance around her claws.

"I tend to lose myself in the dance, listening to the beat of the music, like that of a heartbeat." The hoofed imp smiles a brilliant smile as she thinks about it. "It reminds me of who I am-- and who I /need/ to be to survive in this world."

Katherine then creates a dark orb of light, which she rolls around in her claw tips, Kita can almost see her reflection in it. "The reminder to survive in this world before us, we must be gentle like the breeze, but strong-willed as the greatest mountain. Willing to bend at times like the reed, but soar ever higher like the greatest of birds."

The imp then holds up the dark orb as it takes shape to look a bit like Kita's face. "We hold so much in the palm of her hands, but yet understand so little when we look upon the surface." Then it fades away into dark mist.

Katherine brushes back some of her own hair, "Do forgive me though, my lady Kita. I probably should not bore you with some trivial talk. After all, you have fine works to do, but I am flattered that I could gain some of your time."

Kita is quiet for a moment, as if considering the words of the Imp before her. Then, she offers in a soft voice, "Most of my life, music has been a family thing. Something that mostly got kept behind closed doors. Later, when I did get to perform, I was always... someone else." Which might sound confusing to a stranger, "But there was freedom, in that. I didn't have to care about people seeing the real me."

Even that reflection showing back at her only reminds her of this much. Those subtle scars where she had changed aspects of herself. Adding or removing piercings, dying her hair, covering her arms, all of it trying to hide from the truth. She reaches a hand out, lightly moving her fingers through that dark spell, her own magic helping to dismiss the image of herself in the process. It isn't dismissive, but simply that she doesn't care for looking at herself, it seems.

"It's fine. I certainly understand the sentiment. I'm just not quite sure what my place is going to be in this new world." Kita lightly chews on the back of her pencil. There are already teethmarks on it, so it must be a common occurrence. "Any time. Though if you ever need work done, let me know. Once I get these designs for the Tournament done, I should have some more free time for other projects."

    Katherine listens to Kita. Her eyes, while they glow, stare at her gently. She watches as the young woman chews on her pencil and shifts her head gently. There was a shift in the glow and look of almost pity that crosses her features, as she slowly looks away.

As the mountain slate blue imp stands, she stands with grace and dignity. She snaps her fingers and seems to pull her robe over to her from where it was hanging. She puts it on, before closing it around herself. "I shall keep your services in mind, Lady Kita, should I ever find need of it. I wish you the best in your endeavours and may your clients find love in your work."

The imp gives the other a respectful head bow, before she walks away heading for the door. She does look back over her shoulder toward Kita, then goes to head back out, using her own arts of magic to open the door for her, before closing it behind her.