Closed Inauspicious Beginnings [Coren]

[Silarial]

Winter 10, 512 AV There really wasn’t much to do in the market when you didn’t bring any money on your person. Of course one could always resort to ‘window-shopping’ at the different stalls scattered around the Frozen Falls market. The place would have been bustling with the Vantha looking for a good deal, and the air filled with animated exchanges between buyer and merchant. Today, however, the atmosphere surrounding the market was full of tension. Suspicious looks were thrown at one another, and Silarial found it depressing. She knew the sordid mood was caused by the recent burglaries in numerous stores and merchandises. The girl could only hope that these trying times will soon come to pass. Silarial sauntered towards a stall lined with various clothes and garments. There were all kinds of beautiful apparel of different shapes, colors, and sizes. She gaped as she ran a finger on a furred blouse, relishing in its soft feel. She was almost surprised when the stall owner, a middle aged man with receding blonde hair, spoke to her. “Anything catch your fancy, lovely miss?” The man smiled professionally. Silarial noted his light hair and unchanging eye color. Definitely not Vantha. He must be a travelling trader then. She smiled one of her sweetest smile at the foreign merchant, one she uses when she wanted to obtain something she liked. “I like this blouse,” Silarial held the fur blouse up, looking at it with longing before moving her periwinkle eyes back at the man. “Would you give it to me if I danced for you?” The man looked at her with disbelief, and then laughed cordially. His reaction made the young Vantha’s eyes flush a light shade of gray. Why is this man not taking her seriously? She’s not the best dancer in Avanthal but she dances well! Silarial wanted to tell the man what she thought but he took the blouse from Silarial’s hands and placed it back on the clothes rack. The merchant spoke to her in a pleasant, if not amused, tone. “And how will a dance benefit me, lassy?” “You’ll feel happier after seeing a dance, sir.” She said in a straightforward tone, but the man dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “I’ll feel happier if someone buys one of my goods here. If you don’t have the money then go bother someone else. I’m trying to do business here.” He shooed her nonchalantly, and Silarial was none too pleased to leave. She knew she should have brought money with her! But with all the thefts going around, she had to make sure her hard-earned Mizas wouldn’t end up pilfered when she wandered around the streets. Silarial walked with heavy steps, her mood already darkening early in the morning. She chewed furiously on her lower lip, unpleasant ideas flooding her mind. Stupid thieves. Stupid Hold tensions. Stupid… Her train of thoughts were suddenly broken by a strange sight: a moving, man-sized mass of black. Upon closer look, however, she realized it was actually a person clad in a black fur cloak. How interesting. A Vantha wrapped in so much clothes. He must be a Vantha because he shares the same mark as her from Morwen. But why was this person so fully covered when he doesn’t even need that much layer of clothing? Definitely interesting. Silarial smirked and her eyes slowly changed into a vibrant crimson.

[Coren]

Groceries, nothing in corens mind could describe the act of buying food and other necessary items for his lifestyle so well as the majority of the avanthal population. Necessary for his continued comfortable existence but a complete pain the ass and very much something he would like to go without if he could. Especially since groceries involved both the dullness of the first job and forced interaction with the latter. Coren handed over some coins to the man working at the stall and bagged another part of his groceries. Mentally ticking it off the list he still needed to get. He already had bread and some smoked and salted meat that would keep forever. Now he just needed to buy some stuff to drink and then he could think of seeing if there wasn't any parchment avaible at his ordinary vendors. Coren continued to walk through the market, completely unaware of the woman who had taken an intrest in his strange appearance. At least not yet. oocNote on the food, all what he buys is the things one pays for in the seasonal expenses. If he buys something else (or a snack.) I will deduct it from the ledger. I hope that is Ok

[Silarial]

What was this mysterious person doing, going around the market like that? He’s attracting all sorts of reaction from everyone from that getup. It just looks so odd. And unnecessary. But definitely more of odd. Silarial walked as close as she dared, feigning interest at the foods displayed at a Winterflame cafe a few yards from where the cloaked figure was shopping. She watched with great curiosity as the person handed money to the shopkeeper. Of course, what did she think he would do, scare the vendor and set off with the bag of goods? Silarial laughed at her silliness, crimson eyes giving way to a pleasant hue of green. The cloaked person started to walk so the girl followed, keeping a safe distance of at least five paces behind him. Surely, he wouldn’t notice her with all the people walking around Frozen Falls, right? Silarial looked at the cloaked back thoroughly, moving her gaze from head to toe. Hmm. The person looks too tall to be a woman, but she couldn’t tell very well with all that heavy robe. As far as she can tell though, he’s taller than her, and Silarial is already quite tall for a woman Vantha. Fine, she’ll refer to the walking mass of black as a ‘him’ then. It’s easier than referring to him as ‘that person.’

[Coren]

Coren's ignorance at the woman following didn't last for a long time. While a lot of other people tried to deny it everybody knew Coren was a very observant man. Usually from the fact that he always somehow managed to hear whatever one whispered behind his back when he supposedly couldn't hear them couple that with the healthy paranoia every mage had and it was very hard to sneak up on the mage. After a short while the fact that the same woman continued to be present in the ever shifting faces and people of the crowd. And just like a stone pillar in a ever-shifting sea it stood out if you where half aware of ones surroundings. Even though Coren wasn't a hundred percent sure that she was actually following and that it wasn't just a weird chance that she had to be at the same area's he would have to be. He slowed down his walk a bit and began formulating some kind of plan for him to trap her in the act and find out why in Morwens name she was following him. Who knew it might be another one so called righteous mage haters who acted as if he was a bloody criminal just because of his knowledge. His plan was quite simple he would simply leave the market through one of the calmer exits and if she still followed him then he would just approach her and interrogate her before scaring her into leaving him alone. Simple and efficient in his mind. Coren shifted through the crowd and walked towards one of the roads that bordered on the market. Acting as if he hadn't seen the woman folowing him yet, which wasn't very hard with the big robe, leather facemask and hood covering him almost completely.

[Silarial]

There were times Silarial had to tiptoe to glimpse what the man was doing. She found it hard to keep track of him with all of these people walking about and blocking her view. “Mister Cloakety Cloaksperson, are you going to a top-secret place on a hush-hush type of mission? I want to see what you are doing good sir. Yes you, good sir.” She sang to no one in particular as she passed a man carrying a heavy-looking wooden crate on his shoulders. When the cloaked figure slowed down his pace, Silarial slightly slowed hers. That’s good. His stride was longer than the woman’s and it was getting a bit hard to pretend she was just casually strolling around the market when she was half-walking, half-scurrying after him. Silarial was a bit disappointed, however, to see that the man was not shopping anymore. If only he’d buy more things, Silarial could give a guess as to what he does for a living, which Hold he belongs to… that kind of stuff. But nooo. He’s not buying anything any more. Silarial puffed her cheeks out as she imagined him to have ran out of mizas to spend. Could he be a poor person? Well, probably, judging from his somewhat worn clothes. That really doesn't matter to her though. She's more interested in why he looked like that. Now if only she could take a quick peek at his face… She trailed after him as nonchalantly as she could, following the path he was treading. Not a thought about him being already aware of her presence passed through her mind. Silarial was so assured that she blended perfectly into the crowd that she didn’t realize the man was already leading her out of the crowded market.

[Coren]

Coren didn't check whether the woman was still following him or not, his perfect plan didn't rely on looking backwards, potentially giving away the element of suprise. He just kept following the street for a while before taking a turn to the right into another sidestreet. Not one of those dirty dark alleys everybody stayed away from. No, that would be way to suspicious, he himself would have picked up on that immediately. Just like anybody with a set of brains in his head, though that would make it work on the majority of the avanthal population. Instead it was just a simple sidestreet that led to one of the holds of avanthal if followed completely. So it would seem as if he was just walking to his home. Coren took a few steps inside the street before turning around and waiting. He would be obscured from the woman's vision thanks to the buildings until she turned around the corner. He smirked underneath his mask as he simply waited for the woman to give herself away.

[Silarial]

Silarial followed the man in black into the smaller sidestreet, wondering where he was going by treading through this path. Perhaps he’s going home or something. It would be impractical to carry all those bags around on his person after all. And it would be great if he really was going home. She could find out which Hold he belongs to and maybe stalk -- she meant observe, yes observe, him from there. She walked with slow, deliberate steps, getting a little conscious in the large decline of people around her. Still, her curiosity overpowered the gnawing feeling in her gut so she carried on with shadowing the strange man. She wasn’t singing nor humming anymore though; it would attract attention in this rather quiet street. Silarial watched silently as the person disappeared around a corner before moving her legs faster. Upon going around the corner, Silarial’s jaw fell when the man was no where to be seen. She scrambled a few steps forward and strained her eyes for the moving mass of black. He couldn’t possibly just disappear like that! The path before her was long, and there wasn’t much to obscure her sight from someone who stands out so much with all that black garment. He just couldn’t, unless of course he realized someone was following him and hid on purpose. Silarial gasped and bit her lower lip as the possibility dawned on her. She stood still, eyes searching the street for the cloaked person. And as if on instinct, she immediately turned around and almost fell over when she saw the man standing there, as if lying in wait specifically for her. Silarial’s first instinct upon seeing the man in front of her was to about face and walk away, but she still hadn’t confirmed that he knew what she was really doing. She could still get out of this. Probably. So she just looked at the man with an innocent expression on her face, pretending it was the first time she saw him.

[Coren]

Coren wasn't impressed in the least with the girls reaction, not only did she walk right past him. But she didn't manage to keep it very low key she was following him. She looked all over the street for quite a long while before she thought of checking the most obvious answer to her problem at hand, Behind her. When she finally turned around, giving such a pathetic show of being innocent Coren honestly felt insulted by it, who did that girl thing she was dealing with here, somebody who was brain dead? “Don't even bother with that.” Coren stated in an apathic tone, making for a quite alien sound combined with the lyrical structure of vani. “I knew you where following me before I even left the market. Now, mind telling me why you where following me or should I assume the worst and respond in kind.” Even though the hooded vantha was talking in a monotone it was clear that the last part of his response was everything but an idle threat. As the mans eyes shifted to an angry looking yellow and fixed the girl in front of him with an icy glare. Though the effect was a bit ruined by the bags of groceries hanging from his arm.

[Silarial]

Silarial pursed her lips in frustration upon learning that the man was long aware of her presence. So he was actually just leading her on. It was disappointing. And she thought she was good at following someone unnoticed too. Now that she was found out, her face relaxed into an easy smile, a tad pleased that she didn’t really have to reason her way out... much. The hooded man demanded to know the reason behind what she was doing, and she caught the intimidation in his words by the tone of his voice. However, instead of being terrified by his threat, Silarial was fighting the urge to laugh. It’s not that she didn’t believe him, but being threatened by a man holding bags of groceries didn’t really strike her as terrifying. In response to his question, Silarial slowly raised her hand and pointed a dainty finger at the grumpy man. After a few moments, she sensed that she was not getting her point across. With a slight shrug, she said, "Your clothes. You're awfully covered for a fellow Vantha and I got curious... I wanted to know why you're dressed like that, so I followed you." She replied with a wide grin on her face, as if what she said was the most obvious thing in the world. Her smile faded soon though, replaced with a tinge of worry in her clear blue eyes. "Though I know you must have assumed something worse from what I did, seeing from how you reacted.” She chewed on her lower lips and inclined her head to the side. “Are you angry with me, sir?"

[Coren]

Coren frowned underneath his hood and facemask at her reason, what in morwens name was wrong with the way he dressed? It was comfortable and practical seeing as he could stuff a huge amount of things in the pockets in the inside of the robe. Sure the constand hood and facemask might be a bit weird but he was a mage for Morwens sake, why couldn't they just accept the fact mages usually got a bit weird and where happy his weirdness was covering himself up and not stitching clothes out of the skin of children? “I like going dressed like this.” Coren bluntly replied to her question, keeping her fixed with his yellow eyed glare, not convinced in the least that the worry on her face was genuine. “Not angry, just heavily irritated, though I don't doubt that if you continue feigning ignorance like this, that I will get there. The entirety of avanthal seems to be gunning for me and the rest of my fellow practitioners these days so of course I'm suspecting something worse from a stalker. Especially with what happened last season.” Coren stated in an irritated tone. “Now do you have anything else to annoy me with? Or are you going to apologize for your childish behaviour and leave this man to get his groceries home?”