Open Just Another Day in Avanthal

[Sliver]

57th of Fall 512 A.V. Dawn was just breaking over the glistening water in the port of Avanthal, and already the entire city was moving around and about. Snow still needed to be cleared, fish to be brought in, food to be baked, ice stone to carve. The work of a Vantha in the Everwinter City was never done, and even with all of the terrors that had befallen the city, any stranger would see the place as a fully functioning, bustling, and perhaps even jovial place. It was for the people accustomed to Vantha, and the workers themselves to see that differently. Sliver stood watch over one of the main squares, leaning casually against a wall and observing the markets and people for any signs of unrest. She noticed that parents kept a close guard on their children ever since the Ice Hawk attack, and even thinking of the event she shivered a bit inside her warm furs. Though Sliver was still not able to determine a Vantha’s Hold just by looking, she had begun to determine some of the key signs. Apart from a Vantha holding any namesake of their Hold, certain clothing colors and details would catch her eye. Frostfawn was more comfortable in hunting leathers and clothing that was easily washable when dirtied with all the animals they had to work with, and their smell was unmistakable, a trait they shared with Coolwater who often dressed a bit more warmly than most Vantha because of the biting ocean winds. Skyglow had a tendency to wear more ornaments, Snowsong had a habit of whistling wherever they went, though of course this wasn’t a given. Iceglaze had a certain gait to their walk and seemed never without their tools, even if it was only a small child with specifically fashioned ones. She could identify Winterflame by their smells as well and Whitevine…they often wore work uniforms all around the City. All in all Sliver was extremely pleased with how well she was beginning to know the city and it’s inhabitants and the small glimmer of a smile hung on her lips as she looked out over the scene unfolded before her. Eyes the color of polished mahogany slowly scanned around the area. She would have no trouble here today, that she was sure of.

[Coren]

Coren had been in the marketplace, shopping around for some much needed tools and products he needed to keep his projects flowing smoothly, some more ink, some more parchment so he wouldn't run out again just when he was completely locked in his home thanks to the weather. Still it wasn't that easy, there wasn't many demand for both ink and parchment in avanthal since the majority of the stories and learning happened orally, sometimes he was even surprised the majority of the population here even knew how to write and read at all! “I'm sorry Coren, we don't have any parchment anymore, with all the ricus nowadays we didn't have any time and resources to make more.” Coren let out a sigh as once more one of his usual suppliers ran dry. “It doesn't matter, I'm sure there has to be some around in avanthal somewhere. Otherwise I will just have to be sparse with the very few sheets I still have.” Coren replied back in an apathetic tone before turning around and walking away from the stand. Keeping his eyes out for the next one. oocHope you don't mind me dropping in

[Briar Holden]

. OOCTerribly sorry about the delay. Terribly, terribly sorry. Vantha undoubtedly had their different standards and trends between the holds. For someone used to watch them day in and ou, it probably wasn't too difficult to determine who was who if you had a watchful eye for details. Anyone observant enough would undoubtedly know that this applied equally to Briar, who didn't belong to any of the holds. As far as the Vantha were concerned, he had no doubt in his mind, he didn't even belong to this city. Dressed up in all sorts of furs and leathers and clothes underneath, the man lumbered on along the pathways between the stalls in the marketplace with his jug cleverly hidden for now underneath his cloak. He'd been here since early morning, wandering about and scouting for potential 'victims'. Well, not so much. He wasn't cruel in his ways of going about his profession. If you could even call it that. This was his way of keeping his mind off of things, too. A lot had been going down lately with storms, monstrosities and wild animal attacks, and it seemed like many of these events were shaking up the population of Avanthal quite intimately. Briar didn't know what he was supposed to think, so he decided it was better to just not think much about it at all. Hounding people for free money was a very good way of averting your attention to lesser things, after all, since it could bring all sorts of distractions. Be that happy surprises or having to stand against a firm backhand. Whichever worked for him--he wasn't going to be picky. In his sort of profession, you couldn't well afford to be. Once he worked his way out to the end of the marketplace, he held out his jug and intercepted the path of a couple about to depart from the scene. Jiggling it enough to let the piece of grit and pairs of copper mizas inside make themselves known, Briar did his best to sound convincing. They didn't give him a second thought. With a look of defeat upon his face, Briar watched the man and the woman at his arm leave down one of the streets, and he snapped a pair of fingers after they disappeared out of audible range. Determined to continue trying, Briar spotted a figure leaning up against a wall not very far from where he was standing at that moment. Studying her with his gaze for all of three seconds, he lumbered his way over with the jug extended in front of him, jiggling it once he crept on closer. "Please spare some coin for a poor man!" .

[Sliver]

oocNo problem at all, glad to have both of you! The Kelvic kept an eye on the goings on. Just because thievery wasn't common didn't mean it didn't happen, and she had to chase down more than one poor child grabbing a snack or some bit of jewelry to pawn off. She wasn't too concerned with any other problems at the moment until she noticed a figure making her way towards her. He was stooped and had a jug out in front of him, rattling it to make sure the sound of other's hospitality as well as the lack there of could be heard. Sliver blinked. He wasn't Vantha, of that she could be sure just from the amount of clothing he wore. She wondered exactly what had brought the man to this point, perhaps what had taken him to the Everwinter City in the first place, it wasn't exactly a forgiving environment to strangers, no less the poor and homeless. Sliver never understood the scorn people extended towards people like this man. Everyone always had its story, perhaps Vantha understood that more than most, but perhaps it was the reality that a beggar brought when asking for coin that scared people so much, that a few wrong steps could put them in the same exact place. Sliver had been in the same situation before, begging for scraps in wolverine form. That being said she wasn't sure what kind of man this was, handing him a GM which she could easily spare might not be the particular answer. Sliver pulled back the hood of her jacket, revealing heavily pierced ears, and tattoos that ran across her shaved head, the only hair gracing the space a dark mohawk with light streaks. "I won't give you money, sir, but perhaps I can buy you a hot meal if that suits you? As one also without Morwen's mark I know how cold it can get."

[Coren]

Coren let out an annoyed sigh, the worst case scenario had happened in his eyes. None of his normal vendors had any parchment left, all because of the recent uphaival and other kind of events. Really he hoped that the icewatch got the problem under control soon, all the fear, panic and the inability to leave the city really where pressing on the population, with some goods that where seen to be more of a luxury becoming scarce as people focused more on the basic stuff one needed to live. Which did put coren in a bit of a tight spot, no parchment meant no practicing glyphing or making notes for any of his other experiments. Coren just crossed parchment and ink of his small mental list and began looking around for the next item on the list, some foods and drinks that would last a long time so he didn't have to trek down to the common eating hall all the time and could spend the time he lost walking towards it and back on something more useful, like practicing some of the magical disciplines he still wasn't very good in for example. As Coren was browsing through the market his eye fell on the obvious figure of Sliver, who was talking to Briar of all people, a few half-formed thoughts tumbled through his head, trying to find any kind of motive behind them being together. Before shrugging it off, it was just Briar being a beggar and trying to get some money out of other people. Still, he couldn't help but keep an eye on the two as he was browing through the rest of the market. Curious how the boisterous beggar and sliver would get on.

[Briar Holden]

. He had to admit to himself that the proposal he got in return for his oh-so-humble request did make him pause for a moment. Usually met with dismissal in a variety of forms and variants, being offered an alternative was certainly an odd thing for him. Not certain how to respond to that, Briar remained silent for a bit to simply study the very strange-looking woman in front of him. Tattoos and springing mohawk revealed, Briar suddenly felt much less comfortable with the individual he'd chosen. Considering his luck since he arrived in Avanthal, he needed to work up a gut feeling for these cold evironments. His compass was way out of tune with his surroundings and it seemed to be pointing him in all the wrong directions of late---though, it was too early to tell for sure since he knew nothing past his first and deeply coloured impression. "... Food? We-well, I... Uh..." He hesitated. While he'd just established that he couldn't well trust his instincts anymore in this city, he did have his reservations still. That tiny little voice in the back of his head that discouraged and warned him, telling him that this was a bad idea. It had always been a bad idea, and he should know better by now. Even so... It wasn't something he could dismiss entirely. "I... That would be awfully generous, though I don't want to trouble you more than... necessary... not that I'm not being a pest already..." His voice eventually trailed off into a quiet murmur as the man shrunk back into his clothes, pulling the jug back in to himself. .

[Sliver]

Sliver laughed. It was interesting because she had grown so used to the Vantha who dressed in all manner of clothing completely taking her outward appearance in stride, she had partially forgot what it felt like when a gaze fell on her visage and held the expressions that she enjoyed evoking with her aesthetic choices. She slapped the man in a friendly manner on the shoulder. ”The name’s Sliver friend, newly appointed Icewatch guard. Don’t worry I won’t be dragging you into an alley or anything like that." At her little morbid joke the wolverine opened her mouth in a wide grin, displaying teeth a little too sharp for comfort. “Why don’t you wait here and I’ll grab us something, anything you’d like in particular?” The question Briar simply wouldn’t have time to answer, for Sliver already had in mind exactly what she wanted to buy. She gave a hand motion to a guard who was across the market square, indicating she would be back momentarily and jogged over to a street vendor who was selling caramelized rabbit haunches on skewers with vegetables. The meat was lean, much leaner than she remembered, but it was to be expected with the ban on leaving the city making healthy rabbits harder to catch. She bought two of them, throwing the shopkeeper an extra silver miza to help with the rising expenses that would surely be coming to the city in the next few weeks, then grabbed some hot cider from another stand. Holding the food in a most haphazard manner, the wolverine made her way precariously back across the square to the waiting beggar and handed him a steaming cup and a skewer of meat and vegetables, wasting no time in ripping into her own meal with gusto. the foods-2 SM She consumed the entire stick in less than a chime, and burped loudly afterwards, chuckling a bit at herself and smiling contendedly. As long as she lived her short life she would never tire of Winterflame cooking, she really should take some lessons from them at some point. This passing thought evaporated as soon as it had formed and swapped out to themore pressing and current matter at hand: The beggar. Taking a substantially more measured sip of her warm beverage than she had given her meal, her eyes returned to assess her surroundings, keeping an eye on the bustling of the Vantha going about errands and tending to stalls. It was clear she was still paying attention to Briar and how he had received his meal when she spoke. “So what’s your story beggar?” Briar had probably heard that word inflected in a number of different tones, disdain, hate, pity, perhaps even fear. If he was paying attention to the wolverine, and to be sure her friendly actions and rather manic mannerisms made it hard not to, he would pick up on the fact that she stated beggar as one might talk about a blacksmith or a baker in passing, as if his life and his constant search for handouts was a job just like any other.

[Coren]

The boisterous beggar and the just as boisterous sliver where getting along just fine as far as coren saw, with sliver being surprisingly generous and offering the beggar a meal. Though coren saw some bits of hesitance in the beggar. Which struck him as odd, why would somebody who didn't have nothing be hesitant to reject a free meal? Humility, no that wouldn't be it, as far as he had seen the man act, humble wasn't exactly a word he would be using to describe the beggar. Speaking of odd, even though the man was technically spying for him he didn't know anything about the man, a grave error that he only now realized. He should have done more digging before he had asked the man about that. So when Sliver wanted to hear the beggars story he couldn't help but walk a bit closer to the pair so he could hear it good enough more or less, while also tried to be as unobtrusive from the crowd as he was capable of without looking as if he was hiding. He wasn't doing that good a job if it though, and if any of the two would look towards his way it wouldn't be very hard to find him in the crowd.

oocnext time I take this long, feel free to PM me about it ^^,

[Noblesse]

Sliver :

Experience:

• Observation +1
  
• Philosophy +1
  

Lores:

• Key Signs of a Vantha’s Hold
  
• Sharing Your Food with a Beggar
  
• Musings on the Poor and Homeless
  
• Amusement at Another’s Reaction to Your Appearance

Other:

Ledger You spent 2 silver mizas for your food

Notes:
Sliver’s generosity and understanding of a beggar’s plight was a pleasant surprise, to be honest. I was not expecting her to tip that extra silver miza to the shopkeeper as well, and I find her notions very sweet and noble. Too bad, I feel this was turning out to be the interesting thread between you three.

Coren :

Experience:

• Observation +2
  
• Stealth +1
  

Lores:

• No Parchment, No Glyphing
  
• Why Would a Beggar Reject a Free Meal?
  
• Sliver Can Surprisingly Be Generous

Notes:
The mental image of Coren spying on his two acquaintance made me -unintentionally- giggle. I mean, he could just have walked over to Sliver and Briar but he chose to watch them from afar. Coren, you awkwardly adorable man. Not that I would say that straight to his face though. It’s too bad he never got to join and interact with them two.

Briar Holden :

Experience:

• Observation +2
  
• Begging +1
  

Lores:

• Surprise at Being Offered a Meal
  
• Sliver: Icewatch Guard
  
• My Instincts Are Faulty in Avanthal

Notes:
I don’t think I see Briar around Avanthal anymore, it’s too bad. Briar seems to be an interesting character too, in my opinion. I hope you come back and play around in Avanthal again some day.

True nobility lies in being superior to your former self

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out. Heehee.