While Astrid doesn’t take much offense to Yasei not being able to tell that she’s at least part dwarven, it does make her the slightest bit sad. Given that it’s the only part of her history she knows anything about, even when that knowledge is barebones, it’s something she tries to be proud of in some way or another. “Well, I s’pose the horns don’t help that much,” she says with a somewhat lighthearted shrug. The horns have definitely been enough for most dwarves to unfairly deny her heritage. “But I ain’t gettin’ no taller than this methinks.”

The burps definitely help lighten the mood. When Yasei burps, Astrid sits in stunned silence, feeling like he let out a true lion’s roar of a belch. “Whoa…” she says before breaking out into a smile. “I bet I can.” Below the table, her fingers weave together a bit of magic to enhance her voice, and she chugs the next mug as fast as she can until her stomach rumbles once more. This time, however, the gas she releases is almost explosive in sound, as if lightning struck within the bar and her burp is the thunder crack.^[1] It’s loud enough to overtake all the chatter within the bar, and a couple of nearby patrons clasp their hands over their ears in an attempt to deafen it even slightly.

Astrid sets her mug down and leans back in her chair looking satisfied. The bar patrons and owner, however, are not so pleased by the raucous duo.

---

1. Voice of Thunder

Yasei couldn't cast spells or use magic. That was just something he was used to, and made up for with his mastery over Ki instead. However, he was still trained in magic. Not how to use it, but how to detect it and fight against it. It was a necessity when so many enemies were capable of using magic on the battlefield.

Even though she was trying to hide it, he could tell that burp was enhanced with a bit of arcane trickery, but he didn't do anything to try and counter the spell. He wanted to see what would happen, and he sure did see. His mane was blown back by the sheer force of it. He refused to cover his ears even if it was stupid, and his ears rang for a few moments afterwards, the Koma-Inu dazed. He shook his head to settle his hair back to normal and then smirked.

"Heh. Cheater." He chuckled teasingly and emptied another mug. It was plain to see he wasn't actually angry about the use of magic, he just didn't think of it as a loss.

His smirk dropped into a frown as someone stood beside their table with his arms crossed, looking at them with an annoyed expression.

"You two are bothering my other patrons. You're gonna have to leave."

"Huhhh? Who are you? We're just drinking! We can't help it if we burp when we're drinking!" Yasei argued back, annoyed.

"I'm the owner, and I think you've had too much to drink." The owner replied, looking at Yasei.

"I haven't even gotten a buzz yet!" Yasei grumbled.

“I dunno what yer talkin’ about,” Astrid says with an amused smirk and all the confidence in the world^[1] whilst patting her belly. Of course, she cheated as a little bout of good fun, and she’s glad to see that Yasei isn’t too upset about it. He absolutely would have won though, and both of them know it.

As Astrid starts sipping on another glass, she giggles and then notices a particularly annoyed-looking shadow looming over them. She harumphs in annoyance and starts chugging the drink when the owner taps the end of the glass. “What?” she says, looking at him with her lips pursed in a pout.

“Don’t you think you’re a bit too young for that, little miss?” he says. “I can’t have underaged people drinking either. You two are being nuisances.”

“But ya got lots a’ business from it,” Astrid points out.

He doesn’t seem impressed by the factually correct argument. “Not for long if you chase everyone away. That’s the last drink. Finish them and leave.”

“Fiiine,” Astrid says with a belligerent sigh. She hasn’t quite gotten that deep in her last drink, so she sets it down and offers it to Yasei, who has probably consumed her weight in alcohol by now. Leaning across the table, she smirks at Yasei. “Bet we can find some other folks ta sucker out a’ snacks outside.”

---

1. Smooth Talking

Yasei glared at the owner in a huff, but didn't want to get banned from another bar, so he figured it was best not to get into a fight. He could still be a little spiteful though. With full eye contact with the owner, he picked up and downed one mug after the other until he finished all of them, finishing off with her last drink that Astrid offers him.

He smirked deviously and chuckled, leaning across the table slightly to whisper back.

"Heh. I bet a lot more people would feel confident they could win against a little girl than against me." He said with a wink, already making plans to continue this scheme elsewhere, but now with a new partner in crime.

"Hey-" The owner started to pipe up, but Yasei cut him off.

"We're leaving! You can shut up already." He said, rolling his eyes as he got up, his chair scraping across the floor loudly as he slid it back. He stood up and started to walk toward the door, his stride as straight and sober as a man who hadn't just drank a whole table's worth of ale.

As they walked out, Yasei looked down at Astrid with a smirk, seeing her walking just fine too after drinking so much. He was actually more impressed by this than the arm wrestling or burping.

"You can really hold your liquor, eh, Chibi?" He remarked and then laughed heartily, one last loud disruption for the bar owner to glare at before he squeezed through the door and out into the bust festival street.

Admittedly, it has been a while since Astrid has gotten to have a proper drink at a bar, and she only slightly got away with it this time. Last time, a certain rowdy cowboy and her had a contest in the Pale City where dwarves tend to be less of a pain to get drinks out of, at least the lighter things like ale and beer. Luckily, the cheap stuff in the Brass Dragon isn’t exactly all that strong. Piss water, the dwarves would call it. Compared to a good, dark, dwarven stout, it might as well be juice.

“I wouldn’t call that liquor,” Astrid says. “It weren’t all that strong. S’pose I can feel a touch a’ it in me vision, but…” She takes a big breath, puffing out her chest and stiffening her arms for a moment before letting it all relax. “Aye, weren’t much more than some wheat water!” Letting a giggle mix with a burp, Astrid wafts her hand over her face and looks up at Yasei. “Chibi? What’s that mean?”

"Heh. You can feel it? I still feel like I haven't had a drop." Yasei replied jokingly, though there was a tinge of real disappointment in his voice. He really was let down by that place's booze even if it had all been at the expense of his challengers. It felt like he'd just been wasting his time in there all along. Maybe some other bar around here had some real alcohol.

Disappointing booze didn't ruin his cheerful mood though, as he laughs at Astrid's antics, calling it wheat water and puffing herself up before letting out a burp. And then she asked what "Chibi" meant and Yasei couldn't hold back an uproarious laugh.

What could he say? Pipsqueak? Runt? He was pretty sure those were pretty accurate translations for the Crescent Islander word, but not what he was really going for. He was calling her Chibi in an affectionate way, not an insult. Nah, he knew exactly what to say. He took a moment to catch his breath after laughing so much and looked at her.

"Heh, it means Dwarf!" He said with a wide smile.

“Well, ta be fair, I am like… less than half yer size, ain’t I?” Astrid points out. No, the beer wasn’t very strong, but she did manage to down enough to make her feel a little buzzy, especially without having any water between drinks. It is pretty hot outside, too, given that it’s summer. Still, she got away with it at all, so this is a huge win for her.

At first, she’s a little concerned about Yasei’s long consideration for what “chibi” translates to, but she figures that he’s just fishing through the language for the right word. And then, to her surprise, he declares that it means “dwarf.” Astrid blinks, and then a wide grin spreads across her face. Sure, she described herself as a half-dwarf, but even then, it isn’t often that someone would call her dwarf so simply on its own. She doesn’t expect hearing it stated that way to make her feel some sense of pride in herself. Maybe it’s something she’s always looked for with the only part of her heritage that she knows anything about. She couldn’t say.

“Aye, that’s what I am!” she says, beaming up at Yasei.

Then a whiff of some freshly grilled street meats crosses her nostrils, and Astrid gets distracted by the scent. She looks at Yasei with a devious look. “What say we eat an’ drink our fill while everyone’s enjoyin’ the festival?”

Yasei let out a laugh loud enough to turn a few heads of passerby, but the streets had a lively enough atmosphere that no one thought it was strange to be cheerful. A few still looked his way a moment longer at the unusual appearance of the Koma-Inu. They weren't exactly common even in the Crescent Isles where he was from, so seeing one in Sol City was a novelty. Some probably thought he was wearing a costume or was someone here as part of the festival. That would be just fine since he wanted to draw plenty of attention to their arm-wrestling plan anyways.

"Ha! True!" Yasei snickered as he measured Astrid up to himself. Her height was just over half of his, but for their overall size, she might not even be a quarter of his weight.

"Let's find a table and get some challengers!" He said with a no of agreement. They'd be able to eat and drink as much as they wanted. Just as soon as they conned a bunch of suckers into losing in an arm wrestling match with either him or Astrid. Until then, he was still flat broke. Maybe they could even earn some coin instead of just betting drinks like he'd been doing at the bar. He could buy a souvenir!

If Morrigan Moonweaver could see Astrid, they might just be a little bit proud. It isn’t entirely like her to con folks out of their coin, but she’s never shied away from proving people and their assumptions wrong. With someone as loud and fun-loving as Yasei, the two of them could easily rile up a few drunks into overspending on snacks and drinks.

And that’s exactly what they do. Finding a table near the temporary food stalls and wagons and close enough to the fighting arena to catch sour gamblers, Astrid coughs up a small pile of Solars to place on the table as a temptation for anyone willing to take them on. A winner can take the pile, but if someone loses, they’ll need to pay up with drinks or coin. It’s a tempting amount, more than some of the festival games would pay out to a winner, and that’s exactly what Astrid and Yasei want.

In time, the duo works a small audience up into a tizzy enough that their tempting reward pile grows and grows. No one can beat them, and eventually the excitement peters out until Astrid and Yasei are left with dozens of empty cups and plates and hopefully satisfied bellies.

“This was fun, Mister Yasei,” Astrid says, having definitely enjoyed the day. She pushes the pile of Solars over to the Koma-Inu. “I think ya more than earned this. I ain’t need ta split it. Havin’ some fun were all I wanted today.” She flops back in her chair for a moment to let her tiredness settle. “If yer ever in Dragon’s Cradle, come see me! I’m in Sky Peak. If yer this good at arm wrestlin’, I bet yer real good at fightin’. Always stuff ta fight around Charon.”

Leaning forward again, Astrid offers Yasei a handshake, though after the day they’ve had, it almost doesn’t feel like quite enough. She’s not sure if he’s into hugging though, so she leaves it with the handshake. “It’s been real nice meetin’ ya. I had a good time today!”