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The snow was still falling.

Kelly was standing underneath it, letting it come down upon her. She smiled. It had been a long time since she'd been up in the Grampians; not since she was just a little kid. It was beautiful. She stuck her tongue out and caught a snowflake on it, giving a little giggle.

But didn't that snowflake taste weird?

Oh, that's right. It was red. She wondered what caused the red coloration; she didn't know enough environmental science to ponder what kind of weird meteorological phenomenon might have caused that. Her mouth quirked, and her brow furrowed slightly. It felt like she was forgetting something. The taste of the snowflake stayed on her tongue.

She was no longer smiling. The snow fell faster. Harder. It poured down upon her in almost a rain, staining her cardigan red. The tang on her tongue was even stronger now. 

It tasted like iron.
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Alja jolted upright, eyes wide, and barely held back a scream. Everything tasted like [i]blood.[/i]

A moment later, she slouched down, letting her head rest on an elbow. At least her head hurt less than it had, and the world was no longer wheeling around her. Thanks to Seele, probably. She looked languidly to the side. She was still there. And, a bit further on, so were the rest of their dungeoneering party. Good. At least they were staying together.

She mumbled a quick "[color=d1fffc]thank you, Seele,[/color]" then gathered her strength and pushed herself up from the chair, stumbling a little bit as she rose to her full height. She stretched her arms, her face fixed in a frown. No more drinking. Not that much, at least. She couldn't be this nonfunctional in a game where things mattered.

[i][color=d1fffc]I need to get some different clothing on.[/color][/i] The lining of her armor was soaked with sweat, and that really didn't help the uncomfortable Thorinn heat. She considered for a moment. [i][color=d1fffc]What else do I have to wear?[/color][/i]

With a quick aside to Seele saying that she'd be back, she picked up her backpack and headed to the bathroom at the back of the tavern. She vaguely remembered being here a lot last night, and shifted uncomfortably before she doffed her armor and slid on whatever was the lightest clothing she had. It wasn't [i]comfortable[/i]--nothing was right now--but at least it was less awkward to move around in.

Awkwardly distributing her armor between her backpack and her hands enough that she could carry it somewhere--she didn't know where exactly, but she couldn't keep sleeping in this tavern--she walked back out to the main floor, dressed in a pale blue tunic made of something like linen over a pair of brown trousers and high leather boots. It weirded her out seeing herself in it; for most of Pariah, she'd only worn her armor. But Thorinn was so overpoweringly warm, she was sure if she'd kept wearing it she would have had a heat stroke.

With the bits of her armor she couldn't fit into her backpack awkwardly balanced in her hands, she made her way out to the table, putting it down with a grunt. She felt oddly vulnerable outside of her metal shell. Giving Seele one last grateful look, she clomped her way over to the bar where Kalie sat, feeling kind of weird that she wasn't clanking as she walked.

"[color=d1fffc]Yo. Hell of a night, huh.[/color]"