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Post by Eluna the Illusive on Jan 16, 2006 23:25:01 GMT -5
||And now I shall post my crummy introduction for a tavern! Oooo! Ahhh! xD||
Not again. The young girl thought. She carried the curved staff that marked her as a sherperdess, daughter of a farmer. She had several sibblings, all of whom were poor girls like herself. For their family was too poor to afford a proper dowery for each, and so no man would have them. The young girl held a basket around her arm as she went, it was filled with snippets of a gnarrled looking plant.
Wolfsbane, to protect her flock from the wolves that roamed the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She had lived in a poor cottage all her life, sharing a single room with all her siblings and the kitchen (there were only two rooms in the small home) and had always lived just outside the wood.
She usually took her flock just a little inside so to drink from the clear stream waters, the flock was tended to by her and a few of her sisters, and they would bring back a couple of buckets back with them for supper. Though it was hard work, the young woman seemed to do it tirelessly.
Long brown hair was tuck in an untidy bun, strands of hair always remaining free and whisping about her fair face. Her skin was freckled, especially across her small nose, but remained only lightly sunkissed. Amound eyes of brown and a small mouth with a plum botton lip and a thin top lip graced her features. She was common looking, not unlike most of her siblings and other peasent girls.
She had just put her flock in the pin, and she now went to collect her father from the tavern. For he had spent the majority of the day there, he had left in a hurry after the visit of one of the traders that passed through on occassion. Barefeet made no sound as they hit the ground beneath the worn fabric of a dark blue over skirt and an old greying white under chemise. A white blouse was tucked beneath the bodice of biege, the straps slightly off the shoulder.
The sheperdess soon made her way to the tavern, entering with a rather unhappy look on her face. There he was, her father, sitting at the corner table with a mug full of rum in his hand. From the state of his apperance, the girl could tell he'd had more then his share. She walked over to him, barefeet making only soft padding sounds on the wood planks that served as a floor.
She looked furious, and the middle-aged man cowered at the sight of her.
"Where have you been?!" she demanded loudly, slamming her hand on the table. The mug fell over from shock, and spilled rum all over the table and the man. "Mum's furious. We've been looking for you for hours! Honestly, Father!" she had begun to shout, most other conversation stopped as people listened and watched.
"Sweety, love, Elizabeth, please..." her father pleaded, seeing the unwanted attention. Someone laughed. "Elizabeth, I'll do what I want when I want. You nor your mum or sisters can say otherwise." he then declared, voice rising.
The sheperdess glared, "We are leaving. Now!" she stated slowly and angrily, voice rising louder as she grit her teeth. The man cowered. A woman's scorn is fear to him, especially when he lived with eight and they all seemed to ban together against him at times.
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Post by Aubry The Odd O.o on Jan 17, 2006 18:48:52 GMT -5
Ruby eyes watched the scene, flickering with the slightest bit of curiousity. The eyes belonged to a man of medium hight that sat in the very back of the tavern. The man was of normal build, not fat nor skinny, nothing too special about him as to be remembered except his eyes. The man wore a black cloak that he wore draped around him, like a shroud, hiding his secrets while it hid his sword. Under the tattered cloak wore simple black pants with a black belt that was buckled with the head of a crimson dragon. On his left hip he sported a black sheathed blade with two dragons curled around a staff as the hilt. The pommel was where the two dragon's heads met and where their ruby encrusted eyes glittered unnaturally. His shirt was a plain white tunic, worn and tattered he was obviously a traveler. His face was a pale peice of parchment framed by ebony locks that only reached to his shoulders, always messy. Wild eyes stared out from this prison, as if they longed to be free of this body. Sighing heavily he swirled the amber liquid around in his pewter mug, he'd tasted better, but, at least the place was warm as was the food, that's all he needed.
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Post by Eluna the Illusive on Jan 17, 2006 19:15:13 GMT -5
"NO! Elizabeth, you do not order me around like one of your flock!" The man finely shouted, how he found the words in her angered gaze was some what amazing. Elizabeth tapped her foot impatiently. "It's a half-day's walk, love." he protested, cowering back in his seat. The warped wood of the chair's legs was rather unsturdy and dangerous, they snapped under the wieght.
The man, now forced to lie back on the chair, boots in the air, looked like he was about to die. And his daughter looked about read to snap his neck, especially as the fierce frown on her face intensified. She moved closer, crossing her arms while still holding the shepherd's staff tightly in one hand. Emerald eyes were hard and showed less fury and more irritation.
"Get up." she sighed, exsasperated with her father's folly. She ran a hand, shaking lightly, through her hair, undoing her loose bun and letting the thin piece of twine fall to the wooden planks of the floor. The crack of thunder and flash of lightning told her that getting home would be impossible now. And as the rain fell against the shuddered tavern windows, like a thousand tapping fingers, she could feel the strange palpitations in her heart.
"We'll stay the night, but no more rum or beer or anything that will make you act like an idiot." she anounced in a strong voice, as she peered intensly at the man lieing on the floor. "Get up." she then repeated, setting her staff aside and pulling the man to his feet. He wavered for a bit, and as she turned to the bar keep, he stumbled after her. "One room." she said as she leaned lightly on the edge of the counter.
The man behind the counter, stout and short, nodded and turned around to retrieve one of the man keys shoved in a drawer. He spun around and placed a small bronze key in the palm of the young woman's hand, glancing at the other momentarily.
"Last one on the right." he said in a course voice, then turning to serve another costumer after raising his eye brow lightly. The shepherdess nodded, her father slightly perplexed. This bar keep was usually quite tight on money, never did he accept promises or good words for payment, why had he let his daughter do so? Why had he not asked for her money? Maybe he forgot, though it was unlikely of the elderly sailor.
Elizabeth, just by the look plastered on her features, caused the small crowd to part and allow her and her father to pass into a darkened hall way only lit dimly by a flickering candle dripping of white wax on a small table at the enterance. Elizabeth turned at the last door on the right, disappearing into the darkness of the room. She whispered something, the sound was like a soft breeze through the trees during spring.
The room was suddenly illuminated by a mysteriour blue light emitting from the shepherdess's staff. Her father turned and shut the door quickly, before anyone could see his daughter's magic. For she was no ordinary girl, but a witch. And that was a hanging offense.
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Bithore
Sea Serpent
Not of this World
Posts: 36
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Post by Bithore on Jan 17, 2006 19:44:43 GMT -5
At a table by herself, near the fireplace of the tavern, sat a young elf. Not young as in a child, but a teen, or so her appearence suggested. She was actually almost a hundred. Her silver hair was hanging loose, for the time being, and her night blue eyes were scanning the scene. She had seen the whole arguement between the man and his daughter, and would have laughed, but she couldn't. She was mute, and not by any accident. The symbol on her neck told the tale. It was hidden by the cloak she was wearing, but it was there. The symbol of a dragon's eye.
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Post by Eluna the Illusive on Jan 17, 2006 20:00:50 GMT -5
Elizabeth sighed heavily at her father's haste in shutting the door and hidding her magic.
"Really, father. They're bar foke, no one cares nor would anyone else believe them if they did." she protested before setting her staff leaning on the wall and plopping down on the one bed. The straw mattress was not, nor would it ever be considered, comfortable. And the fabric of the quilted blankets was absolutely wretched. The material itched dreadfully, who knows how many men had slept in it before her.
She shifted positions onto her side and mumbled something more, causing the light to become silvery and like strong moonlight. Her elderly father settled down in a chair on the far side of the room, but not before inspecting the furniture carefully before sitting. He leaned back, the warped wood creaked and groaned in protest to the sudden amount of weight.
"Hmmmm..." the shepherdess mumbled, turning onto her back and staring up at the roof above. It leaked in certain spots, and the sound of the pounding rain on it's surface was nearly deafening. But it some how made her feel calm and peaceful. She loved the rain.
"What is it, Elizabeth?" Her father, the elderly shepherd inquired lightly. He crossed his arms over his heaving stomach and stared intently with paternal concern. Elizabeth wondered about his sudden changes in moods, some times he'd be irresponsible like back in the tavern and other times he'd be concerned and caring like now.
"Did you notice those other two inside the common room?" she asked, gazing up at the cieling in a dreamy state. It was now her father looked slightly confused and curious. An odd mix in emotions and the expression on his face was a muddled mess between them.
"No, what do you mean?" he asked again, leaning further back until the chair was leaning against the wall.
"There was a girl, and a boy." she answered, bringing her legs onto the small bed.
"There usually is." the father replied quickly, seeming rather confused at his daughter's sudden lack of intensity.
"Yes, but these two were different. These two were unique, and different from the rest." she added, defending herself in a way. Her father merely nodded, eyes drooping. "Good night, father." she then said, watching the man drift into a shallow sleep. She sighed, sitting up now. She had sense something different in those two traveler, something unlike all the others. Something, dare she say, magical even.
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Post by actsonimpulse on Jan 17, 2006 22:40:25 GMT -5
Darc stumbled into the tavern with Rei trailing behind him, they had been arguing for hours, about nothing. But Darc liked arguing with this girl, she was a friend and she liked his company as he did hers. He plopped down onto the nearest table as Rei strtched out her legs and rested them on the table, trying to give them a rest. Those heels were beginning to make her feet ache. She wished she could go home, just to see Sasuke again. She'd give anything just to see his smiling face again. "REI!!! SHEESH, I've been calling your name for the past ((looks at watch))... thirty seconds? Anyway, what do you want to drink?" Darc shouted at Rei, who jsut then snapped out of her thoughts. "Uh... water is fine," she stammered, grinning sheepishly, feeling idiotic. Then, she noticed that there was a lot of commotion going on in the room. She looked around and saw quite a few people for this late at night. There was even a father and daughter and the daughter was sleeping. Then she saw an... elf
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Post by Eluna the Illusive on Jan 17, 2006 23:05:24 GMT -5
The shepherdess rose from her bed, setting a blanket over her father's sleeping body before opening the door. The light from the dim candle cast a long ray of light, nearly waking the man from his slumber. Elizabeth nimbly slipped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Bare feet made no noise on the wooden floors beyound that of creaking floor boards, groaning from her wieght. Though, being a poor daughter in a large family, she was quite thin from lack of food. She slipped silently from the dark hall way into the better-lit common room, then slinking over to the counter through the sparce crowd.
She slipped onto a seat, the bar keep from before imediately setting a large mug of rum in front of her. Elizabeth did not drink, but pushed the beverage aside and asked for a bit of water. The bar keep turned and scurried off to the water supply, then returning with mild haste with a small goblet of water.
No, it wasn't good water. It tasted bitter, for water does have a taste you know, and she winced at the flavor as the bar keep's back was turned.
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Post by actsonimpulse on Jan 18, 2006 19:31:28 GMT -5
"I hate water... It always tasted like metal to me," Rei said, trying to make conversation. She sat down by the girl at the bar. She'd never had water before but she'd heard about it. How bitter and metal like it tasted. She felt strange. Thinking about how most of these people couldn't even survive without water and how she'd never had it. NEver had a need for it either. She looked every bit as human as anyone else (other than her eyes), but she was what people call "immortal." She was the first to ever become that way on Athron. They had recently discovered new technology that could be used to alter a person before they were born, making them anyway the people saw fit. Being unsuccessful on most counts, like altering personalities with the technology, the only thing they could do was make someone "immortal." They just figured with the right uprising, they could form the person to their liking. She sighed thinking about her never ending life and why being "immortal" was so great. She will never get to grow old and never die. It seemed like a tedious and tasteless task to her. Of course she told Aragon that every day, her best friend who only told her that she was arrogant and ungrateful and that he would give anything to be in her shoes. Then he'd look at her heels and laugh changing his mind saying that he would never look good in them. She never really remembered having a companion that was a girl. Which was strange considering she was always surrounded by women that longed to be her friend. She always wanted what she couldn't have. She would sneak out of the palace at night just to talk to people she wasn't supposed to.
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Bithore
Sea Serpent
Not of this World
Posts: 36
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Post by Bithore on Jan 18, 2006 19:39:26 GMT -5
Aria watched the two at the bar, wishing so desparately to join them. But she knew she couldn't. Her voice was gone, and not many people understood signing. She could write, but she never knew if the person could read, and having Andune talk to them seemed like an insult to Andune. 'I don't know what to do.' She thought to Andune, who was resting outside the town, ready at a moment's notice.
'Try.' the Wyvern responded.
Getting up, she went over to the bar, and sat not too far away from the two girls. She tried to figure out how to comunicate with them.
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Post by Eluna the Illusive on Jan 18, 2006 20:07:00 GMT -5
"Hmmm...?" Elizabeth mumbled turning from staring idly into the glass of water to the other sitting next to her. "It is bitter water, from a bitter man's well. You can see everyone who ever drank it inside the depths." she finally responded, though her eyes were still glazed in though. She offered a faint smile, though her emerald orbs still searched the ripples within her goblet.
"And who's this?" she asked suddenly, and without much cause. She shifted her gaze once more, to a figure sitting a bit ffarther from her along the counter. "A silent tongue, how strange." she mumbled, head cocked and eyes flickering with study of this other stranger. "Who are these strange guests?" she asked no one imparticular, prehaps someone listening in the water of her goblet, for that was where she said it to.
The flickering reflection of her rounded face and eyes stared back, disturbed by the ripples echoing inside. Emerald eyes, dazed and dreamy, were of a disproportianate measure in the water, while her chin and pink lips were of small size. How odd are these reflections, that a single thing may disturb them. She thought lightly, the cloudy water showing her blank expression.
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Bithore
Sea Serpent
Not of this World
Posts: 36
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Post by Bithore on Jan 18, 2006 20:16:37 GMT -5
Aria's head came up at the sound of Elizabeth talking. She was puzzled. 'How could she tell?' she consulted with Andune.
'There are those who just can, because they have a magical talent.' the Wyvern informed her. 'Now, try to talk with her.'
Gathering up her courage, she went over to the two, and waved *hello*. (*these* are what she is saying by signing)
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Post by Eluna the Illusive on Jan 18, 2006 20:26:35 GMT -5
Without even bothering to look up from the ever rippling tides of the water goblet, Elizabeth replied in her usual whimsical voice. She was only remotely normail acting when she was speaking to her father or someone in anger. Which would explain her change in behavior.
"Good evening," she replied, voice and breath shifting the waters of her glass once more as she stared into it. "Hmmm... I never would have guessed, mother will wring her neck!" she then said, laughing softly into the cup. The image of her elder sister and a sailor played for her in the goblet, though none but her could see it. Unless they too were of magical being, which may have been quite likely.
They would not see her as a heretic or insane, as so many do say about her actions and nature.
"What is thy calling, I wonder?" she asked the goblet once more, though he question was intended for the youthful-looking mute near by.
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Post by Aubry The Odd O.o on Jan 18, 2006 22:37:11 GMT -5
The man shifted his weight in the rickety old chair and poked at his meal, chicken and a bit of bread. He sighed and studied the now three girls who were communicating with one another, not unusal, yet, there was something different, about all three of them. His ruby eyes glinted as he reached for the hilt of his blade before thinking better and standing. He treaded softly on the wooden floors, his leather boots worn from many years of travel. He sat down in a chair not too far from the bar, close enough to listen and perhaps enter in the conversation when he felt it right. He leaned back in the chair so only two legs were touching the ground. He brushed a bit of raven hair out of his eyes with rough fingers and watched.
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Bithore
Sea Serpent
Not of this World
Posts: 36
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Post by Bithore on Jan 19, 2006 16:25:26 GMT -5
*Aria wishes shelter for the night.* she signed, getting more confident. This wasn't too hard. She could only hope Elizabeth could understand her. If not, she might ask Andune for help, or she would get her room for the night.
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Post by Aubry The Odd O.o on Jan 19, 2006 17:55:47 GMT -5
The man continued to watch intreiged by the way one of the girls spoke, not with her tongue, but with her hands, not a common thing but not too uncommon. He had once known a man who had gotten his tongue cut out, so he spoke through sign language. Perhaps that was what had happened to the girl. He shrugged and turned his eyes upon the one known as Elizabeth, she was looking into her goblet, she was definatly using it for something some called scrying, perhaps a different form than he used himself, but still serving the same purpose. He shrugged and ordered a rum, upon recieving his drink he nodded and paid the barmaid. He sipped at it thoughtfully, ruby orbs peering over the rim of the mug.
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