Title: Springtime Party [Spring Event]
April [NPC] - April 8, 2007 08:34 PM (GMT)
Relatively small for a celebration, Richimon Lake has temporarily been decked out for a party. Springtime had come and the event was being celebrated by villagers from nearby towns (mostly Cascadia and Kellen) that came together for a day of music, light, and laughter. There are only about sixty people present, mostly families with children of all ages.
There are many tents set up in the clearing, the largest being a large white and green pagoda-style tent. Beneath the canvas of the tent there is a makeshift wooden dance floor. Outside the tent are several long tables, made of boards supported on logs, carts, or whatever else is handy. The benches are just as makeshift. Under the second largest tent are more long tables with large servings of food available, being served potluck-style.
The band playing under the largest tent are village minstrels, a hodgepodge of individuals who know how to play simple tunes on equally simple instruments.
Currently it's mostly adults by the food and dancing. Most of the children are all gathered by the edge of the nearby woods, laughing and giggling, anticipation shining brightly in all of their eyes. Each one of them are carrying small baskets made of reeds and lined with fresh green grass.
The forest itself is a sea of green, carpeted with small spring flowers and plants. The trees are white-barked, with small green buds on the ends of their branches, not yet entirely bloomed.
The excited children all seemed to be waiting for something, watching and peering into the forest anxiously.
Finally, the children shouted in excitement. If someone looked closely, they would see a small woman, more childlike in appearance than anything, skipping among them. She carried a much larger basket, full to the brim with colored eggs. This young woman had rabbit ears flopping cheerfully from the top of her mop of pink colored hair. She was also dressed entirely in pink.
Leaping with unnatural grace she landed easily on the top of a rock at the edge of the shallow lake.
"All right children! The hunt is ready and waiting! Make everyone finds at least three, and no stealing from your friends. Everyone is to be on their best behavior. Have fun everybody! And 3... 2... 1... GO!" The girl's voice was infectiously cheerful and she wore a happy smile the entire time which only widened as the herd of children ran for the forest to hunt for the dyed eggs the rabbit-woman had hidden there. The girl trailed after the children, skipping, laughing, and hopping as she did so.
Veronna Darkblade - April 9, 2007 01:39 AM (GMT)
It was spring finally. The trees had gotten green and the flowers had started to bloom. It was a sunny and a few clouds were in the sky. Veronna had decided to come to this event, like she had with the St. Patrick's day party. But this one was more for families and not much drinking was going on. She had gotten here by riding one of her nightmares, the animal now tied up with the other horses. She was near the tent, her purple dress just barely touching her knees, her sandals feeling very good on her feet. She wore her hair up today, the braid going past the middle of her back.
"Ilhar?" Came a small voice by her side. Veronna smiled and looked down to the child that held her hand, her red eyes looking down into Vaoulrah's green ones. The child looked nervous and was staying as close to her mother as possible. Veronna sighed, "Come here." She bent down and picked Vaoulrah up, though not as small as she once was, she was still light and easy to carry. Vaoulrah was wearing a light pastel green dress, with some little sandals.
Veronna listened to the music for a few moments, then looked towards the forest where kids were starting to gather. She looked once at the dance floor, but did not feel in the mood to dance right now, so she walked to where the children were gathering. After walking over to near the woods she placed Vaoulrah back on the ground near some children who were about three or four. Vaoulrah eyed them cautiously, her bright green eyes looking nervous, but walked towards the children, her fear quickly disappearing as the other young ones came up to her and started giggling and touching her.
Veronna then remembered she did not bring a basket. How could she forget? She frowned, wondering what she should do. She did not know how to make a basket, and even if she did, she didn't have anything to make one with. Her attention came back from her thoughts as a woman, that almost looked like a child skipping among the children who were shouting with excitement, which made Vaoulrah squeal also, though she did not know what was really going on.
Veronna smiled again releasing her hand which was gripping her right scimitar, not realizing she had her hand on the weapon until then. She knew this was for fun for the children and not some sort of attack. The rabbit like woman then told them a few things about the hunt, then started counting from three to one. When she said go, the children started running towards the woods, Vaoulrah trying to run also, but tripped and fell to the ground, and started crying. Veronna sighed and walked up to where she had fallen and picked her up, brushing a bit of grass and dirt off her as she said a few soothing words to the child.
She got Vaoulrah onto her feet and held her hand and started walking towards the woods where all the other children were. Even if they didn't have a basket, Vaoulrah still would love to find one of the very colorful eggs.
Acerbic Dreams - April 9, 2007 05:05 AM (GMT)
Making his way through the scattered shade of the small forest, he finally stepped out into the blinding light of the sun. Raising a hand in front of his face, he used it to shield the searing light from his eyes. Scanning his surroundings briefly, he noticed a gathering of kids a short distance off from where he stood and a gathering of tents another good distance off in the other direction. From what it looked like, it seemed it had been some sort of party and from the looks of it; it had seemed to be a party where he really didn’t fit in.
For a second he had pondered leaving just as quickly as he had come, but why should he? It’s not like he was going to hurt anyone and from the looks of it they seemed to be tied into their own things to worry about him. Shrugging the thoughts from his mind, he decided he would stay for a while just to see what was going on exactly. Though, he would have to get out of this sun first of all. Glancing back to the trees behind him, his eyes slowly scanned across them searching for the perfect candidate. Finding a rather large one, he slowly made his way towards it, but a small voice caused him to falter in his steps. Blinking a few times he glanced off to the side to find a small boy standing there.
The boy stared up at him for a moment and asked again, “Are you the bunny’s helper?” The boy’s eyes seemed to bore a hole into him as he anxiously anticipated an answer from him. Clearing his throat, Marius cocked a quizzical brow unsure how to answer the boy, but then offered a simple, “Maybe.” The boy whined, not liking his answer at all, “Awww come on, you can tell me, I promise I won’t tell.” Heaving a sigh, Marius eyed the boy for a moment and then turned his gaze towards the tents, “Look kid, why don’t you get back to your group so you don’t miss out.” He really didn’t care what the kid did, but the last thing he wanted to do was cause a scene here because of his parents.
The boy poked Marius’s leg a few times, “Please, I know you know where they are, can you at least tell me where one is so I can at least get one of them?” The boy’s pleading brought a soft smile to face, but he would have to spoil the boy’s hope. He couldn’t risk drawing attention to himself here so he needed to chase him off. Dropping to a single knee, he placed a lone hand on the boy’s shoulder and offered a few soft words, “Fine…If you go back to the group and try your hardest to find your own eggs and you end up not getting one. I’ll make sure you get one, but you have to try first, understand?” The boy’s eyes lit up with sheer excitement at Marius’s answer and nodded a few times, “Okay! I’ll try my hardest!” Even if he didn’t find a single one, at least he knew he’d at least get one.
Laughing softly Marius’s eyes moved from the boy and then off towards the tents where he noticed someone heading his way. As his laughter subsided he glanced back to the boy and motioned him along, “Alright, go on so you don’t miss out.” The boy nodded and headed off back to the group just as the other person had closed in on Marius’s position. Standing up, his eyes moved to the strange person heading his way, but as he was going to say something the person’s voice cut him off, “What do you think you’re doing talking to my boy?” Marius eyed the man for a brief moment and then glanced over towards the group of kids, “Just helping him….” The man’s eyes narrowed at Marius’s response and simply shook his head, “Well, I think you should leave, Demon. My boy doesn’t need your help and neither do the rest of us. Your kinds help consists of trouble and that’s something that we don’t need here. This is a day of fun and that’s the way we’d rather keep it, so leave before you spoil it for those kids.”
Drawing his gaze darkly back upon the man, he spoke in a deep demonic tone, “I’m just as welcome here as the rest of you fools, so don’t give me that garbage. If you really don’t want me here then do something about, because I’m not leaving. But keep in mind that if you try something, I will fight back and I won’t be responsible for what happens. So I suggest you go back to your tent before YOU ruin it for these kids…understand?” The man growled and cursed under his breath, but only offered a few words, “Just stay away from my kid.” And with that he headed back to the tents, paying Marius little to any more mind.
Releasing an annoyed sigh, he began to wonder whether or not staying here was such a good idea. It was people like him that seemed to ruin his peace and quiet, but he pushed it off to the back of his mind. Turning his gaze back to the tree, he slowly began towards it. Placing a hand against its rough bark exterior, he slowly took a seat with his back against the trunk of the tree. Just then he noticed something pressing against his lower back. Leaning forward, he reached behind himself and pulled out a red shaded egg. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, he held the egg in his gloved hand and simply studied it for a moment. Well, it was the last thing he expected to find here, but at least he could hold his promise to the child, that’s if he came back. Lifting his gaze from the egg, he studied the group of kids for a moment and then the tents off in the distance. By now he was almost certain that he didn’t belong here, especially if that man had anything to say about it. But he decided to stick around, at least for the kids sake….
April [NPC] - April 9, 2007 08:56 PM (GMT)
The rabbit girl seemed to be everywhere at once, popping from one place to another with little more than a crazed pinked blur. She was constantly helping children, laughing, and guiding many of the youngest amongst the children to where clusters of eggs were hidden.
When she noticed the little drow-looking child toddling around without a basket, she appeared at the toddlers side, crouched down slightly to her level. Smiling warmly, she pulled some of the grass from her own basket and with blinding speed wove the flimsy grass strands into something vaguely resembling a bright green basket. "Well that won't do entirely..." she murmured with a happy glint in her large blue eyes. Then she spun the thing on her finger and when it stopped, it seemed to be a living reed basket, just big enough for a small child. Baby's breath blossoms lined the outside of the basket. She handed it to Vaoulrah, giving a quick wink to the toddler. "There you go. Everyone needs a special basket for hunting eggs."
Veronna Darkblade - April 11, 2007 08:59 PM (GMT)
As Veronna and Vaoulrah headed towards the woods, she noticed a man leaning against a tree, holding a red egg. The man looked different, something about him was not quite human, but she did not spend to much more time thinking about, bring her attention back to her child, who had let go of her hand and was slightly a head of her. Right before she reached Vaoulrah, the bunny woman was by her side, weaving a small basket together.
Veronna watched from where she was at, letting Vaoulrah stare in amazement at the basket that the woman made. When the basket was handed to Vaoulrah, the child was a little confused, but then reached out and grabbed it with her little hand, the basket being just the right size. Veronna then walked up to Vaoulrah and nodded to the woman, "Thank you, you are very kind to have done that for my daughter." She said, meaning every word of it.
But by then Vaoulrah was off again, heading towards some of the kids, but then stopped as she saw something yellow out of the corner of her eye. The child stopped and walked over to it, bent down and picked it up, trying to figure it out. Veronna walked up to her and bent down, "Good job! You found one!" she said to the child, stroking her hair. She then grabbed Vaoulrah's hand which held the egg and guided it to the basket in her other hand. Vaoulrah let go of the egg and it rolled around in her basket. The child smiled and started looking around, until she spotted another colored object.
Veronna did not follow this time, letting Vaoulrah find it herself. She had a feeling she could trust the bunny woman, so she started heading for the edge of the woods, to wait for the hunt to be over with. As she walked she heard something in a clump of bushes. Her first reaction, like always, was to unsheath her sword, and she did just that, her hand wrapped around the hilt and pulled it out with lightning speed. She pointed it at the bushes as she drew closer. She pushed some of the branches away and saw a black rabbit sitting there, eating something it had found.
She was about to move away when she realized a normal rabbit would have fled. She looked closer at the thing and realized it had wings. Not nice and feathery wings, but bat wings. She frowned, wondering what kind of rabbit it was. She sheathed her sword and reached down and picked it up by it's ears. It tried to bite her, but she held it in front of her, far enough away so it couldn't get her, noting it had somewhat sharp teeth. This was a very strange rabbit indeed, also noting that it had small nubs coming from it's head, obviously suppose to be horns. "Vel'bol ph' dos? Fol verin aterruce? She spoke in her native tongue, mostly because she was surprised to find such a creature. As she spoke, the animal calmed down and looked like it was starting to relax.
She pulled it closer and sat it in one of her arms, expecting it to either run or bite her, but instead it just stayed on her arm, closing it's eyes slightly. She crouched down and sat it back on the ground, but it did not run. She stood up and started walking away, the rabbit following her. She looked back at it and it ran and jumped up, back into her arms. She caught it as it landed, taken aback from how it wanted to come with her. She shrugged, what could it hurt? She again started walking, stroking the rabbit as she did so. She exited the woods near the man who had been sitting up against a tree. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow at him, "Don't want to get involved with the celebrations?" She asked, able to tell he was looking at the tents.
Acerbic Dreams - April 14, 2007 06:49 PM (GMT)
Glancing down to the egg for a brief moment, he proceeded in rolling it between his fingers absentmindedly. Drawing in a deep breath, his eyes lifted back up to the tents again. He was the outcast here, shunned for what he was and the way he was and they all wondered why he hated the world. They all questioned why he killed, why he destroyed….It was because they would never accept him if he truly acted as they would. Just because he was different, it was immediately a taboo and he should be banned for such. One day, one day he would show them…..He would show them all who truly needed who and when the day would come, he would turn a blind eye. Breaking from his thoughts, his eyes slowly trailed off to their left to where a woman resided.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get involved, but more so that he couldn’t…Even if he tried, they would never allow him amongst them, to call him as one of their own. Heaving another depressed sigh, his eyes would trace back to the tents and in a dark tone he would speak, “I don’t intend to stay long…Besides, it’s not worth my time.” Coiling his digits around the egg, his other hand moved down to the ground and used itself to push himself up to his feet. Dusting his pants off slightly, his dark crimson eyes fell deftly upon Veronna, but soon broke away and over to the couple of kids that emerged from the woods with their baskets of eggs. Just then he noticed the boy from earlier straggling behind them, a disappointed look on his face. Shooting a brief glance over to Veronna, he would offer a few simple words, “If you’ll excuse me…” Brushing past her, he would make his way over to the boy, “Well…?”
The boy looked up to Marius and frowned, “The other kids took the one’s I found…” Cocking a brow, he studied the boy for a moment, “What do you mean?” The kid sighed and looked down at his empty basket before explaining, “Every time I found one someone ended up taking it from my basket when I wasn’t looking.” Marius released a sigh and stared down at the kid’s empty basket, “Well…I’m not supposed to do this, but I’ll help you out. How’s that sound?” The boy’s eyes grew wide as he stared up at him, a certain glee sweeping across his face, “Really!?” Marius smiled and nodded firmly, “Certainly, but you have to play a game with me first, okay?” The boy rubbed the back of his head a moment and frowned, “I’m not very good at games.”
A smug grin tugged at the corner of his lips at the sound of the boy’s comment, “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. Now….” Lifting both of his arms out in front of him, he exposed the red colored egg to the view of the boy, “You see this…You have to guess what hand it’s in and it’s yours.” Dropping his arms back down and behind him, he sorted the egg from one hand to the other, before stuffing it up into the sleeve of his shirt. Pressing the cuff of his sleeve against the palm of his hand with the tips of his digits he brought his arms back up in front of him. Making sure both of his hands looked as though they contained the egg, he nodded his head to the boy to pick.
The boy studied both of the hands carefully, making sure not to pick the wrong one. He never really was good at these sorts of things and it bothered him that if he picked wrong that he won’t get the egg. Nervously, his small hand lifted up to Marius’s right hand and tapped it twice, “That one….” Marius laughed softly as he turned his right hand palm up and opened it to the boy’s view, “Nope.” The boy frowned at picking the wrong one, but the look would soon fade as he stared up at Marius with pleading eyes, “Do I still get to keep it, please?”
All expression seemed to leave his face as he contemplated the boy’s plea, “Well…I’m not sure. Lets see if I still have it.” Turning his left hand palm up, he opened it to reveal….Nothing. Scratching his head slightly, a perplexed look soon took hold of his visage, “Now…Where did I put that pesky thing?” The boy began to giggle at Marius’s ‘misplacement’ of the egg, finding it quite humorous. Then Marius proceeded in lowering his arms back to his sides, making sure to press the cuff link back against the palm of his hand so the egg couldn’t escape from its place in his sleeve. Bringing his left arm up slightly, his right arm quickly snapped across his torso, moving the flat of his palm out to the inner part of his left elbow. Just as his hand would make contact with his left arm, it would snap up in response and just as it reached a parallel base with the ground, his fingertips slipped from the cuff of his sleeve. The egg now free of its confines lifted forth from the binds of the sleeve and high into the air where Marius proceeded to catch it with his right hand. Bringing the egg back down in his hand, he offered it out to the boy, “There you go, just make sure you keep a better eye on your stuff next time. I won’t always be around to help you out.”
The boy stared up at him in disbelief, unsure of what just happened, but he didn’t care because it was one of the coolest things he’d seen. A joyous laughter broke forth from the child as he quickly took the egg and placed it in his basket, “Thank you Mister, I’ll try!” The laughter would soon subside and a question would rest just at the tip of his tongue as he stared up at Marius, “How did you do that?” Smiling softly, he dropped to a single knee before the boy and brought his hand out to the boy’s chest, “Its magic…It’s something that lies deep inside of every one of us.” Placing his index finger over the boy’s heart, he continued, “It rests right here, but it’s up to you if you wish to believe in it.” Dropping his hand back to his side, he pushed himself back up to an erect stance and ruffled the boy’s hair, “Now run along before you get into trouble….” The boy nodded his head and headed back off towards the tents, “Thanks again Mister.” He offered as he ran off into the distance where the tents were gathered.
Watching the boy as he departed a certain qualm seemed to wash over his entity. It was almost like watching a younger version of him. Lifting a single hand up to his face, he brushed a few wayward strands of his raven black hair from his eyes, “As I’ve said….It’s not worth my time, there’s nothing for me here. Besides, celebrations are for those that have something to celebrate and I sadly…don’t. No less do I have anyone to celebrate anything with…” Turning his dark gaze upon Veronna, he simply shook his head, “But forget it…I wouldn't expect you to understand..." With that he simply turned his back to her and began off towards the edge of the woods, stopping only briefly to glance back at the boy one last time.