A Journey to the Castle!

[Halbarad]

Patricia enters the main door of the inn, looking around for any sign of Alex.

[Anastasia]

Alex hmms, sitting at the inn tap bar, thoughful and quiet as always. Which, really, means that he has nothing better to do than to glance over when Patricia enters.

[Halbarad]

The brunette spots her target next to the bar, making a beeline for him. "Alex? Are you going to be busy?"

[Anastasia]

With a shake of his head and a sip from his mug, Alex waits for the cleric to go on.

Heh...maybe my rugged natureman look does it for her?

[Halbarad]

"Did you hear the announcement asking for heroes?" Patricia asks. Without waiting for a reply, she continues on. "I really, REALLY want to apply, but they won't let me in by myself. Do you think you could come with me, at least until I can talk to the king? You don't have to stay or anything, just help me get inside."

[Anastasia]

"...," shaking his head, Alex sighs. "What's this all about, now?" he asks, sounding weary.  "Why do you want to go to the castle and become a hero and all that?"

[Halbarad]

You can practically see the stars in Patricia's eyes as she speaks. "I've always dreamed of getting a chance to be a real hero," she replies dreamily. "Exciting adventures, seeing faraway places...."

She frowns. "And ANYTHING'S got to be better than playing errand girl around here!"

[Anastasia]

"So, you're going to go to the castle and apply to be a hero, probably doing off to do whatever the king wants," Alex asks, raising an eyebrow. "And you want me to get caught up in this? Sounds like a whole lot of effort for nothing."

[Halbarad]

"I didn't say you had to come along," Patricia says quickly. "But they're not letting anyone into the castle by themselves, so I just need you to go with me to get me inside. You don't HAVE to go talk to the king if you don't want to."

[Anastasia]

That gets a sigh from Alex, tempered, however.

...I go on a journey to throw off work and it keeps finding me. Dammit...

Though, at least it's in the form of a cute girl.  Hell, I can use it as an excuse to ask her to dinner and see if anything catches, right?

"Fine," he nods, rising. "You're buying me dinner after this, though."

[Halbarad]

"All right, all right," Patricia agrees.

Just dinner? That's a relief... I was afraid he was going to ask for a full payment for a merc job. Dinner I can manage.

"Are you ready to go? They're meeting the people at the castle now."

[Anastasia]

Taking a deep gulp to finish his drink, Alex purs a gil coin on the counter before rising. "Yeah, lead the way," he says, shifting the weight of his sword and armor around to be comfortable, wiggling his shoulders and shifting his arms.

[Dracos]

And arrived just as they saw Helena beginning to bicker with the guards.

"I'm sorry, but we're looking for real heroes, Helena."  The guardsman responded.

Dracos

[Carthrat]

"I'll kick your ass if you don't let me through, you stupid dork!" yells Helena, cracking her knuckles.

[Anastasia]

Alex shrugs lightly at all this, eyeing the red garbed woman mutely.

Guess they're not taking in any random idiot with a sword, he smirks.