At the end of the song, the girl made a sweeping and dramatic curtsy, then leaped gracefully from the stage on which she ended her dance. She walked up to the bar, even her normal walking seeming to hold that dance-like quality. She climbed up onto the bar stool and got comfy, crossing her ankles under the seat. Her smile never left her face.

"Well, hello there, chitling. What can I do for you?" Maria asked, her tone motherly.

"Pork if you have it," the girl said lightly. Her voice carried through the room, its melodic tones soothing.

"Sorry hon, no pig on the spit, but there is beef roast and fish, if you'd rather."

"The roast sounds nice. I'll take that, please."

She grinned up at the woman who nodded and walked into the back to prepare the meal.

“Nice dancing little one.” a voice echoes from the darkness of the corner near the end of the bar… the voice is low but she can hear it… she might notice that no one else around her appears to have heard the words…

If she looks towards the corner she can see darkness… and then something within the darkness… a figure … just a silhouette really… and eyes… eyes that appear to glow in the darkness… she might notice… if she tries… that her infravision which should penetrate the darkness does not reveal anything further.

She looks in the vicinity of the voice, but can barely make out the shape of someone. She figures that it must of been that person who spoke and smiles at it in response.

"Thank you." she says grinning and pushing a strand of silver hair behind one pointed ear. "Maybe you should try sometime. It's a lot of fun."

She turns the seat and tucks her feet underneath, trying to get a better look at the person.

"Thank you." she says grinning and pushing a strand of silver hair behind one pointed ear. "Maybe you should try sometime. It's a lot of fun."
A eerie laugh comes from the dark corner… and the figure appears to lean forward slightly … the darkness seems to pull back ever so slightly and parts of the face almost come into view … the eyes still draped in shadow under large protruding brows… a large thin nose … and dark lips that curl into a cruel looking smile.

“I doubt you would fine my sort of … entertainment… to be fun!” he said… his tone almost mocking.

“What brings a lone drow girl so far from home?… you… aren't a half-breed are you?” the words half-breed had a strange inflection … like he intended it as an insult.

Behind the shadowy figure … something seemed to me… moving… something waved back and forth behind him… it wasn’t quite visible but gave a eerie … unworldly feeling to it… it’s movements weren’t natural.

The girl frowned slightly. She didn't respond to the first comment, choosing to let it drop.

She shook her head softly. "I'm traveling, searching for something for my father. But I'm not a half breed, as far as I know." She didn't sound insulted, but more curious. As if wondering why being a half breed would matter.

She squinted her eyes, trying to see past the man. "Sir, are you trying to hide something, by chance?"

"Sir, are you trying to hide something, by chance?"
The dark lips curled up into a cruel looking smile and then the figure chuckled

“Hide? … I have nothing to hide…” he revealed, “but… I find that sometimes I … frighten people when they see me… but you seem a .. brave girl.”

With that said the strange impenetrable darkness seemed to withdraw as the figure of the man sat back… the darkness receded to show a man… black shoulder length hair … a thin framed man wearing ordinary clothing… his dark eyes became visible as the darkness pulled back and the eyes… which had appeared to glow earlier… now regarded the girl.

He seemed normal until the darkness had fully receded… then what was behind him became visible… the man sat in a large high backed wooden chair… the chair seemed almost alive… vines seemed to come out of the wood and snake around him and the filled the corner behind the chair… the vines were tipped with long 3 inch spines which seemed to drip a dark liquid which when it fell upon the floor of the place it caused the wooden planks to smoke slightly.

The man was quiet as he was revealed to her… his eyes almost seemed to bore into her as he studied her and her reaction to him… as if how she reacted was important to him… an ever present cruel looking smile graced his thin dark lips.

The girl braced herself, and at first wasn't overly concerned. She didn't quite understand why the man hid himself. And then she saw the tentacle like things that wrapped the chair behind him. Were they coming out of his back?

Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of them. She cocked her head to one side and raising an eyebrow in a questioning form. "Well that's...interesting. What are they?" Her innocent curiosity was evident all over her youthful face.

The man smiled and a strange light came into his eyes… he seemed to enjoy her reaction… his smile only broadened as he sat back in the chair and looked at the girl.

“They… are my friends,” he said with a grin

As he spoke the vines seemed to grow longer… they curled around the chair and then slowly snaked across the floor towards her… moving slowly through some of the bar stools as they undulated towards her… a strange darkness seemed to move with the vines… and as they reached her the darkness seemed to envelop her… cutting off the rest of the room …the vines moved around the back of her… not touching her.. But moving up slowly as if they wished to wrap around her tightly.

The girl looked intrigued at the thought of the vine like things being his friends. As they wrapped around behind her, her eyebrow raised and she looked at the man skeptically.

"Are they sentient, or are you controlling them?" she asked hesitently. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was just at that moment, She hadn't noticed yet that she seemed to be cut off from the rest of the room by darkness. She wasn't used to being on her own, and she suddenly wished she had someone to tell her what to do. But she was supposed to be on her own fo this, prove that she could handle herself, and that's what she was going to do. So she swallowed any fear that may have bubbled up and kept an open mind.

At least is wasn't a Derro.

"Are they sentient, or are you controlling them?" she asked hesitantly.
The dark figure seemed to enjoy the girls discomfort… it sensed her fear no matter how slight it might have been or how much she tried to hide it… the grin upon the dark lips broadened until it seemed to be too broad… it distorted the lower half of its face… the eyes glowed again… growing brighter as if her fear was fueling it… the eyes fairly blazed now.

“Oh… they have a mind of their own..” he said with a chuckle, “and right now… they are very hungry..” a evil sounding laugh comes from the shadows as the eyes blaze… the vines curl around her.. still not touching her skin… they swirl around in the air growing longer and thicker as they seem to cut off the light from the room… the long spikes protrude from the vines… dripping what looks like some kind of venom… the liquid drips down and splashes on the wooden planks… the smell of scorched timber fills the air around her… the vines seem about ready to embrace her and pierce her with their spines when…

“What is this?” a female voice can be heard through the darkness… the voice sounds familiar… like the barmaid that took her order of food.. “Timmy? Are you pestering the customers again… now cut that out or I will tell your mother… stop it right now.”

In a flash the vines vanish… the area around her is suddenly no longer cloaked in darkness… she looks and sees the dark figure in the chair of vines is gone… in its place is a simple wooden chair like any of the others in the room… no vines are present… and in the chair sits a little boy… of about 8 years old… he is wearing simple peasant clothing… has medium length brown hair… and dark hazel eyes that regard her closely… he smiles simply at her… he looks at the barmaid and shrugs his tiny shoulders.

“I didn’t mean any harm,” he says in a small non threatening voice “I was just… playin is all.”

He sits in the chair swinging his feet back and forth as he looks back at the drow girl and smiles in almost an apologetic manner.

The barmaid ..Maria… sat a plate of beef roast… with potatoes and carrots…in front of the girl.

“I apologize if Timmy frightened you,” she said with a slight smile, “he has a… gift… and he often entertains himself by bothering the newcomers who don’t know his tricks.”

She cast a disapproving glance at the boy who looked down at his feet as he swung them back and forth.

“Do you need anything else?” Maria asked, “how about a nice big glass of milk to go with that?”

After taking her drink order Maria moved off to tend to another patron who needed a refill.

(What did you think was going to happen? ... )

Cir blinked at the illusion's disappearance. None of it was real? The strange cloaked man was just this little boy? She raised her eyebrow at his wide grin and then broke into one herself.

"That was a nice trick!" she exclaimed and leaned forward with interest. "How did you manage it? Could you teach someone?" Her eyes were alight with an eager anticipation and, no mistake, a hint of mischief.

The boy sat swinging his feet as he waited for the girl’s response… his eyes widened when she spoke and he smiled back at her.

“It is a gift..” he said and shrugged his shoulders.. “I don’t know how I do it.. I just wish it and see it in my head and others see it too… I don’t know how to teach you.”

“I’m Timmy,” he said to her again swinging his feet which didn’t come close to touching the floor.

"Ah," she sighed and sat up straighter, still smiling. "Well, lucky you." She grinned. "Being able to do that would make things a lot more interesting at home. I can just imagine Diamenns face!" She giggled, covering her mouth slightly. "I'm Cir."

“Cir…. Cir?” He said with a puzzled look… he frowned as he considered and then said… “What kind of name is that? Never heard that one before.”

He looked her over and then with a suspicious look he asked… “what kind of person are you? I mean… you aren’t like anyone I have seen before.”

(please note that the C makes an S sound.)

"Well, my full name is Cirrantalyr Lice'farvier." She smiled. "Cir is just easier for most. As for what kind of person I am...well...I'm a Drow. Biologically, anyway." She shrugged. "I don't know much about Drow in general, though. I was raised somewhere else."