[center][i][h3]Luthra's Grand Entrance[/h3][/i][/center][hr][hr]
[color=#cccc00][i]“So kiss meeeee, I’m shitfaaaaaced, I’m soaked, I’m soiled, and br--”[/i][/color]

[color=#9999ff]“Melchior!”[/color]

Mel stopped singing, but didn’t stop strumming. Leaning back in his chair, his feet propped on a barrel, he stared at Angeline, who stood cross-armed and scowling not three feet away. [color=#cccc00]”Any requests?”[/color] he mumbled flatly.

[color=#9999ff]“Do you know a single song that [i]isn’t[/i] about alcohol?”[/color]

[color=#cccc00]“Oh, sure.”[/color] Mel cleared his throat and began playing a different tune. [color=#cccc00][i]“There’s a place your mother goes when everybody else is soundly sleeping--”[/i][/color] He stopped as Angeline’s hand shot forward and caught the neck of the instrument.

[color=#9999ff]“We are almost in the harbour, and your voice travels on the wind.”[/color]

[color=#cccc00]“And everyone loves a good shanty.”[/color]

[color=#9999ff][i]“Melchior!”[/i][/color]

Mel stared at the woman, clearly disinterested in what she was saying. He waited for her to finish her lecture, telling him about how important this trip is, how important it is that he doesn’t screw this up, how if he does screw up he won’t have a home to return to, and everything else he’d heard a thousand times over the past few weeks.

[color=#9999ff]“Do you understand?”[/color]

Mel blinked.

[color=#9999ff]“[i]Melchior![/i]”[/color]

[color=#cccc00]“Yeah, got it.”[/color]

She released the instrument and started walking away. He began strumming again.

[color=#cccc00][i]“Cause the gentlemen are calling and the snow is softly falling on her p--”[/i][/color]

Angeline spun on her heel and once again seized the instrument, this time ripping it from her son’s hands. As she stormed off, she hurled it over the side of the ship into the water below.

Within the hour they were disembarking in Exodus. Angeline went first, demanding the first official-looking person she saw tell her how to get to the palace, her sickle twirling between her hands. A nervous guard escorted her as he welcomed her and her kin into the kingdom.

Mel emerged quite a bit later, after he was certain Mother was long gone. He stretched widely, as if he hadn’t the space to do so on the ship, and asked the nearest official-looking person where he could find a cheap drink. Another guard pointed him in the direction of the Frozen Candle, but cautioned him that, as a member of foreign royalty, it might not be the best--

Mel didn’t bother to hear him out as he made a beeline in the tavern’s direction.