That Pesky Dragon in Bree

It\'s twilight, and rather pleasant out, given that it\'s nearly winter. It\'s just cool enough that being inside the common room of the Pony is warm and relaxing, without the dread of a miserable walk home. The mayor of Bree is out enjoying the fine evening, sitting at the end of one of the long tables and sipping a beer while he lazily reads through documents of some kind. He seems to be just finishing one, because he pulls it up from the pile, crumples it into a ball and tosses it into the fire, then begins anew with the next on the stack.

[Jasper(#28985)] Jasper comes into the common room and glances around. Spotting Ferny, she approaches him and sits down across the table. \"Mr. Mayor, when are you going to do something about the dragon?\" she says, her tone a little angry.

Brenden Ferny slowly lifts his head to regard the hobbit, brown curls lazily hanging about his face in some sort of organized chaos. He smirks faintly, his fingertips drumming on the stack of papers. \"Is the town still standing.. Miss.. ahh..?\"

[Jasper(#28985)] \"Jasper,\" she snaps. \"My name is Jasper.\" She glares up at him. \"What, are you gonna wait for the dragon to burn Bree to the ground before you do anything?\"

How old is the mayor? Twenty-five? He gives the hobbit a rather droll look, then sighs and sits up, setting his beer mug down on the table. \"How do you know that I haven\'t already -done- something? And how exactly do you expect me to stop a dragon anyhow? I hear they\'re rather large.\"

[Jasper(#28985)] Jasper is still glaring at him. \"I don\'t know, think of something! You\'re the mayor!\" she says. \"And, if you had already done something, I think we\'d know it. But there\'s nothing. No new rangers in town. In fact I heard you *drove* the dwarves *away*!\"

\"The dwarves are squatters. They were afraid of the dragon and didn\'t want to do a thing about it. They were only concerned about their own wealth and treasure.\" Brenden answers, then gives her an amused smile. \"As for the rangers.. Why would we want them in town? They never do anything but stir up trouble.\" There\'s definitely a condescending fashion in the way that Ferny speaks to the hobbit, as if he\'s talking to a child. \"Why don\'t you let me worry about it, okay?\"

[Jasper(#28985)] The scowl fades, and Jasper slowly smiles. \"Yes, what a wonderful idea,\" she says sweetly. \"I\'ll just let you worry about it...Right until the dragon comes back and kills us all!\" Her voice rises, and she again glares at him. \"There\'s a dragon terrorizing us! I saw it breathe fire! And if the rangers can kill it, what does it matter if they get in a bit of trouble when they\'re here! I\'m sure they wouldn\'t stay long, if you asked \'em nice!

Keldean chuckles as Jasper gets angry. \"You\'re really fired up over this, aren\'t you?\" He smirks in amusement at his own pun. Then, before the hobbit can really get riled up he holds up a hand. \"Okay, tell you what.. I\'ll let you put up notices, calling to see if a \"hero\" wants to come try his luck at slaying a dragon.. okay? Rustle up some competent folks, I\'ll make sure they\'re rewarded if they get the job done. Sound good?\"

Brenden chuckles as Jasper gets angry. \"You\'re really fired up over this, aren\'t you?\" He smirks in amusement at his own pun. Then, before the hobbit can really get riled up he holds up a hand. \"Okay, tell you what.. I\'ll let you put up notices, calling to see if a \"hero\" wants to come try his luck at slaying a dragon.. okay? Rustle up some competent folks, I\'ll make sure they\'re rewarded if they get the job done. Sound good?\"

[Jasper(#28985)] Still a little angry, Jasper simply nods. \"That\'s fine,\" she says, more calmly. She takes a deep breath and smiles at him. \"There, was that so hard?\"

\"No, no.. I\'m here to serve the people, after all. Come find me when you\'ve assembled a group. And.. make sure there aren\'t any dwarves, okay? They made their intentions clear enough.\" Brenden lifts his beer up again and takes a long drink. After he sighs in contentment from the beverage he asks, \"Is there anything else I can help you with, Miss Jasper?\"

[Jasper(#28985)] She smiles again. \"A group, eh?\" she says, almost to herself. \"Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That was my only complaint. But I\'ll be sure and bother you again if something else comes up.\" She slides off the chair and heads for the door.

\"Well.. wait.. not too many people. We don\'t need a lynch mob.\" Brenden quickly ammends, then inclines his head in a nod when she moves to depart. \"Have a good evening, Miss Jasper.\"