Dinner time at Halyard Tavern is, usually, one of the more eventful times of the day, at least for the serving staff. Fortunately, (or possibly, unfortunately, in the owner's mind) today seems to be one of the less-than-busy days, allowing the staff to chat with most of the customers. Rothal is, of course, one of the servers, and possibly one of the more chatty ones, even. The buck wanders from table to table, taking orders and talking. Some other beast is working the bar, apparently.

That some other beast working the bar /isn't/ Keita. Hum. Where is that darned ownery type? She's certainly not in the room, no. But given the sudden racket of pots and pans crashing to the ground in the kitchen, there might be /some/ clue as to her whereabouts. Then again, the string of curse words which drift in from the other room pretty much confirm it. There's a Keita afoot.

Darklett isn't quite here in time to hear the clanging and crashing of metal against metal and floor, but walks in just after, the door opening for a moment as the buck steps in. He looks around at the mid-sized crowd in the tavern, and twists his snout up to the side in a smirk. But Rothal seems a little busy, so he just grabs the nearest open seat at the nearest small table and rests himself there.

That beast behind the bar is Skye. The doe has found her niche it seems, filling up pint after pint of ale while keeping up a merry conversation. Sliding a frothy mug down the bartop, her attention turns towards the kitchen, one ear swiveling forward while a smile tugs at her lips.

Rothal works his way through tables, taking brief trips back to the kitchen to pass on orders. The buck finally makes his way to Dark's table, almost done taking said orders. When he sees the patroller, he grins faintly, flicking his good ear, taken somewhat by surprise at seeing him here. "Hey, Dark. h'It's been awhile, wot? How're things goin' fah yah?"

Eventually, Keita pokes her head into the main room of the tavern. She's scowling slightly, and her fur's dusty with what appears to be flour, but she appears to be in one place. Ahem. She brushes rather uselessly at her shirt and limps into the main room behind the counter, noting Skye with a faint nod of her head and a grunt. Stupid dishes. "'Ey."

"Hey, Roth. Things've been goin' real well. Um, I'm back in the Patrol as a Major, as you can see now." Darklett looks down at his own uniform, then up to the other buck. "How about you?" His eyes momentarily go past Rothal, glancing to see Keita, then, again, returning to the buck.

"Hey yourself." Skye replies with a slight giggle, filling up another pint before sliding it down the bar. Now free for the moment, she moves in Keita's direction, head slowly canting. "Think I should do those next time."

Vansinnig stumps suddenly into the tavern, grunting and groaning as he moves into the tavern backwards, carrying....something. Turning, the red badger is apparently lugging a large wooden crate, hoisting it with both arms. "Eh?" Actually surprised at the amount of beasts in the tavern, he shrugs his shoulders, regripping the crate. Glancing about, he mentally marks everybeast, especially Dark, before turning towards Skye. "Where's Keit? I got a special shipment in."

Rothal takes advantage of Dark's brief attention lapse, peering quickly around the tavern. Seeing no beast yelling or waving in his general direction, the buck slides into the chair opposite the major, shrugging. "h'I'm doin' fine, been stayin' h'in shape an' all that, just h'in case h'I ever come back to the patrol. Unless somethin' bad happens, that's unlikely, though." Roth's attention goes to the badger who just entered, then, after a brief moment, goes back to Dark.

"Keit's righ' here, ya blind ole bat," is Keita's replying call to Vansinnig. With an apologetic nod and a grin to Skye, she limps over the badger's way, not yet noticing Rothal's newest chatting partner. "Whatcha got, mate?"

"Weeell. Hopefully we're all through with those something bads for a season or two, at least..." Darklett grins at Rothal, shaking his head. "Hopefully. Anyway, good to see you're at least leaving it open, but better to see that you're doin' well. Mind if I nab a drink or two while I'm here? Came to check on Keita, but it seems a bit of a waste to just come and go without staying for a bit, right?"

Skye sends a glance to Vansinnig, about to answer but Kei beats her to it. Offering a smile, she slips away from the two, moving over to start polishing some mugs.

Vansinnig stares down at Keita, and grins his toothy smile. "A samovar. 'at's wha' th' merchant called it, anyway." Setting the crate down on the floor, he pats it almost lovingly. "I's like a giant water heater. Supposed to be for tea, but, I was thinkin' something a bit more ingenious, eh?" Seemingly truly pleased with himself, the badger pats the crate again. "Mayhap make ye a popular stop on th' Western Shores?"

The badger warrior actually wiggles his eyebrows.

Rothal shrugs again, standing. "Sure, h'I'll even toss h'in a bit fah yah, h'if that's okay." The buck's somewhat distracted by Vansinnig's package, wondering idly what sort of effect it might have on, say, spiced rum. Bartender instincts aside, he waits for Dark to join him before he heads to the bar.

Keita's eyebrows go waaaay up. Whatsit? She runs her fingertips over one edge of the crate, looking from crate to Vansinnig and back. "... Well. I dunno what yer talkin' about with the /make/ us a populah stop bit..." And she smirks. "But aye. That's bloody brilliant, mate. How much'd it cost ya?" Pause. Fidget-fidget, grin. "And when d'we get t' pop it open, eh eh?"

Darklett nods to Rothal and slides out of his chair, following him to the badger. I mean bar. Dark tries really hard not to scowl when he notices Vansinnig, having a seat at the bar with a glance down it towards the badger, one of his paws idly tapping the bartop. "Just the usual," he mutters to Rothal.

Vansinnig whips out his blade end and slams it into the top. "Now?" Working at a nail, he grunts as he talks. "Ah. The cost." He pauses at his work, and grins. "The cost is n' trouble to ya. No worries." A slat comes off, clanking to the ground. "M'idea is, of course, th' first hot water in a tub, that ya don't have ta constantly fill up wi' kettles and th' like." He taps his nose, pausing as he leans against the crate. "Imagine it, aye? Tubes a metal run down th' walls inta tubs. Ya turn a li'l nob an' the water pours right in from the samovar, sitchiated on the roof, wi' it's big belly boilin' water for those cold winter nights." The badger nods. "I think it be worth a shot to try it."

Rothal retrieves Dark's drink, placing it down before the major, along with a small glass for himself. His good ear has been tilted in K and Van's general direction throughout their conversation, and now a slight look of disappointment crosses his face. "h'I could'a thought of a bettah use than that.." The buck mutters in a huff, the idea of having hot drinks on tap quickly being crushed. Well, now he knows what to suggest to K for purchase sometime. A samo-thingy.

Two samo-thingies are better than one, apparently. But for now Keita's fascinated with the present one. She looks from the crate to Vansinnig in a sort of bobbing fashion, grinning a bit. It's then that Rothal's mutter reaches her ears, if not the content of the mutter. She glances around and therefore spies both Roth and Sir Darklett. She grins n waves. "Look-it! I've got a samo... thinger." Her eyebrows waggle up and down.

Darklett's trying to just phase out the fact that Vansinnig is there. So he thanks Rothal for the drink and nods in his direction, having a first sip and nodding in approval of the drink. "So, you said you've been keepin' in shape?" Darklett taps his thumb against the rim of his drink. "Running, and stuff like that?" Attention is grabbed, and he turns his head that way. "...A what?" Confused look at the doe, then the crate. Eyes... avoiding... badger... at all costs. What badger?

Vansinnig busily works to open the crate, gouging his blade into it again and again. Pulling out some paper stuffing, he finally lugs out the very large, very red, and very shiny metal samovar. "Ach. Tis a beau..er, ty?" He picks up another piece from inside the crate. It looks like a long, thin walled tube. "What be this?" Glancing at the samovar, he notices a hole at the top, and sort of stupidly stares at it. "Oh...a chimney? Ach, shoulda known. Assembly?" He turns, staring pitifully at Keita. "Uhhh...I'm not too technical, actually."

Keita is now staring into the empty crate. Uhhh. "Did this merchant o' yers happen t' mention any... directions?" Darklett gets a flick of an ear in reply. Errrr. She glances up at Vansinnig, shrugging slightly.

Rothal, more used to bizarre, almost other-worldly events occurring daily at the tavern, simply grins and returns the wave, not confused in the least. "Very nice, K. Can't have too many samo-thingies, h'I always say." The buck flicks his ear in Dark's direction. "Yeah, stuff like that..." His voice drifts off, as he watches with interest.

Darklett is now watching as well, so hearing Rothal's response may or may not have happened. His paw tap-taps at the bar as he looks at the metal... Thing. "Doesn't look /too/ hard. As long as there aren't any small pieces that could go in several places."

Vansinnig actually pulls out a small sackcloth, and jingles it. "Uuuuuhhhh," he grunts, glancing into the bag. "Nails, a small jar a tar, an' no directions." Cursing slightly, he sighs. "Ach, blast it." Pulling out a small cap for the chimney, he just sort of stares at it. "An' what's this? A cup?" He turns it upside down.

If Van thinks that Keita's going to be any help, this silly idea should /quickly/ be dispelled by the fact that she's backing away slowly. Her arms are raised in a fending-off gesture and she's slowly shaking her head. "... Uh. Um. How 'bout I go n get you strong blokes somethin' t' eat while ya think out how t' make that thing, eh?" She griiiiins, and starts to turn.

Rothal tosses back his drink, and with a rather dubious look at Van's new contraption, pats Dark on the shoulder and goes back to work. :P

Vansinnig makes an almost pitiful sound as he sighs after Keit. "Fine, fine...I see 'ow it is." Gathering up the stuff, he begins to trundle up the stairs, and pauses slightly at Dark's table. With an almost self-hating forced smile, the badger nods. "Nice ta see ya in uniform again." And with that, he's gone up the stairs.

Darklett watches Rothal go back to work, shrugging at the pat and smirking, eyeing up the sammydoodle as the badger gathers it up. When Vans approaches him, he tries to look neutral and succeeds for the most part, nodding. "Thanks, nice to see you..." The way he trails off gives away that he has no proper way to end that sentence, and leaves it at that.