PM to join Water. Water everywhere, and I'm about to sink.

[Alexander Faircroft]

4th spring 516AV
9:42AM
Sacred Arch Hotspring
Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

A soft wind blew, light and rolling. The worst of the winter weather had long passed. Still Alex felt a slight chill in the air. He stepped through the woods of syliras towards the Sacred Arch springs. He needed to get out of the city for a bit and away from the hustle and bustle of everything. Battered and bruised, but weary of sitting within a cramped environment.

He’d left his plate and chain armour and the majority of his weapons under his bunk back in the barracks, he only had with him his leather armour, bow and arrows, his dagger and his bastard sword. Alex stepped through the tree line clutching the hilt of his sword and saw the open expanse of the springs. Strangely barren at this time. Just him and the waters. He sat at the edge of the springs and closed his eyes, listening to the slow rolling of the waters and the soft burble of the rising heat through the water. The light crashing of the stream that trickled through.

Alex winced lightly as the last thirty or so days training started to take it’s toll on him. He’d originally intended to head to the springs in order to clear his head. But he’d also heard that the waters were good for soreness and pains. Surely it wouldn’t be an issue, right? After all it was only Alex there. Alex doffed his weapons making a small pile before clearing himself of clothing. Using his blade as an anchor through the chest piece he put his gear near the edge of the springs. Using the brown of his armour to camouflage it against the stone.

The air was cold. Now he could properly feel it, it was bordering unnecessarily cold. However Alex stepped into the waters briskly. The sheer heat of the waters drawing a long sigh from him and beads of sweat to his brow. It felt good to be able to just relax for a short while. Alex took a deep breth and pushed off from the wall to find the water was a lot deeper than he’d realized.

A brief spout of flailing impotently and he managed to find himself buoyant against the water. Just resting and floating along with the currents most of his body submerged but his limbs were extended. He just floated lightly across the surface of the water, like a star through the night sky. He closed his eyes and began to focus again now not addled by the pains in his body. He focused on the spire in his mind again. Cataloguing the faces he’d met throughout the last season and a half. Memorising them and sorting them out into an alphabetical order in the tower library that was his mind palace. So lost within his own head was he that he failed to notice people approaching.

[Firenze]

A conversation had been overheard, even over the loud chatter and clinking of mugs and eating utensils. “Finally, startin’ to get nice outside,” the large man slapped the table with a grin on his face. Fire continued to whip the table nearby down, cleaning the sticky ale residue. “I’m gunna head on over to the Springs as soon as I can.” The Springs? She wondered if it was an actual spring or a reference to the bathhouse.

The wooden table wobbled under the hard scrubbing of the rag in her had. Ears were still tuned into the two men talking. “When ya headin over there?”

“Well, I’m not one to leave the city often but it’s be worth a trip to relax for awhile. The wife has been hounding me lately so any excuse to stay out of the house is good for me!” A hearty chuckle rumbled in the man’s throat.

“Yeah I’m gonna have to make a trip…” the conversation was cut off as she moved back to the bar. Heading toward the back area of the Stallion she decided to check with Remi and see if she might know when the men were talking about

“Remi, can I ask you a question?” Grabbing a hot kettle she poured the contents over the dirty rag, trying to rinse the grime so she could reuse it to finish cleaning.

“Sure, what’s your question?” Remi had glanced over, placing a hand on her back and patting it softly, flour left a print on her clothing from the woman’s hand.

“Have you heard of the Springs? Do you know where that is?” Thin fingers rang out the contents of the rag, black water dripped into a toss bucket on the table in front of her.

“Oh, you haven’t been there yet? You should visit. It’s very pretty. It’s a nice place to relax after a long day. It’s in the Bronze Woods just outside of the city. Make sure you’re careful though, there’s so many things in those woods that could hurt a pretty girl like you.” Her heavy hips swished back and forth as she worked on kneading the dough in front of her. The maternal instincts were apparent to Firenze as she listened to the woman talk.

Thanking her for the information Fire headed back out toward the front to finish cleaning. She knew where she was going to head to after work. It had been too long since she’d sunned herself and just lounge around in the waters.

The brush around the Springs had begun to sprout life but still looked rather sickly. However, it made it easier for the sun to reach through the fingers of the trees, illuminating the area more than if it were overgrown. For that she was grateful. The path wound down and her eyes caught sight of the arch the man had been talking about. Water winked at her through the shrubbery and excitement grew to jump in. As her feet took her closer she noticed that there was someone already in the water but other than that it was peacefully quiet.

Reaching the waters edge she saw the face that was moving gently through the spring. Squinting she realized she knew the face. “Hey!! Alexander!” She called out a hand frantically waving a smile wide across her face. It made it better that she knew the other person she’d be joining. Slipping her clothing off she tossed it into a small pile near the edge. A large face jutted out just over the water. Taking the cloak from the pile she laid it out on the surface and made herself comfortable.

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

Post Template Courtesy of Ingrid

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Enamoured with his own thoughts Alex floated like a leaf on the water. The heat and calming steam rolling over him. He poured through the memories he’d spent time logging and filing away within his mind. And then he stumbled across a more recent face. Sharper features with an almost odd kindness to them. Firenze. A strange woman he’d had the pleasure of meeting in winter and had kind of lost track of time. He hadn’t really had a chance to speak with her in near half a season.

He wondered what she was doing and what exactly she was up to. He knew she’d gotten a job at the stallion but he’d always seemed to just skirt by her shifts. He sighed heavily in the waters. Floating along with them lightly the current taking him towards the shade of a largish overhang. He’d just floated with the tide and the roiling of the water.

Almost like a sledge hammer through a pane of glass his sense of tranquillity was shattered by a voice. One he knew. His eyes snapped open and hew saw her smiling face. Her arm waving frantically like she was trying to swat at a fly. His initial thought was-
That’s odd, I was just thinking about trying to go and see if I could find her. A small smile appeared on his own as he lifted his arm free from the water and waved back. The second thought which hit him was one that hit with all the subtlety of an anvil falling through a green house.
I‘m floating naked, fairly visibly. I’m a good fifteen feet from my clothes and this water is damned near crystal clear…Crap…Instinctively he swung his body lower into the water trying to stay vertical with a lot of effort in the waters.

Half worrying about his own situation He spotted a flash of cloth on the rocks above him. And then then a tumble of long blonde hair accompanied by bare shoulders. Alex had two options at that juncture, swim further back and try and look composed or swim further beneath the rocks and act natural. He chose option two.

Softly pushing the water in front of him out of his way and clawing himself out of view, he splashed the hot water into his face and through his hair before speaking.
“Hey, Firenze. Didn’t expect to see you out here. How’s work treating you?” Given the soft clarity of the area he called out with a calm even ness. His closed his eyes again trying to focus on anything other than his current situation.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

There were a lot of problems being... Archailist. After years of squirehood he'd effectively become one of 'those guys' as far as it seemed. One of the elder squires, either waiting for their knighting quest or held back because of some other unknown reason; attitude, usually. Those squires that he did know, for the most part, looked to him for advice in a situation when they didn't immediately look to their patron knights for guidance. It seemed like he'd risen to a position nearly peaking what he as a Pycon was capable of, in a world dominated utterly by the human species. Still, there were those that came along, like Clyde and Irathia, that tested his strength and put everything he had to the test.. but when faced against what he supposed could be classed as 'ordinary' squires, like Tobias, or even against his own patron when he didn't have.. whatever the petch it was that he had.. there was very little challenge left.

Which was why it pained him that he didn't have at least a somewhat decent grasp over the two other weapons of his species. So much so, he refused to train with them anymore in the Training Grounds, where the other squires could see him fumble around listlessly like a damn fool. He trained in privacy.. well, apart from Ser Iros, who like Arch had absolutely no idea how to hold a whip, but was the perfect dummy for target practice. Not to mention a great motivator. "AGAIN!" Arch swung the heavy coils of the whip around one more time, trying to match the timing and pull the handle back at the right moment, get a decent 'snap' action on the knights exposed left leg. He'd not coiled it tight enough; there wasn't enough momentum to even reach the leg before the tip started dragging on the floor and before he knew it, the whole thing was slumped on the ground too. "Nope. AGAIN!"

They'd both started somewhere in the very early bells of the morning - Arch had very little actual training in how to use whips at all, which meant most of his work came from pure practice and experimentation for long periods of time, struggling to find new ways to use the whip. It wasn't easy.. if he could get blisters, he'd barely be able to use his hands at all. They only had time for a few more attempts to wrap the whip around Ser Iros' leg - all of which failed miserably - before the knight finally announced that it was time to leave. "I think that's enough for now.. we'll continue again another time." Arch coiled his whip back up in tight little twists, just as he'd been shown, before pressing it back into the clay at his hip. Iros, in their periods of rest, had drunk heavily from a waterskin he'd brought along. Out of the corner of his eye, the Pycon saw the Akalak once again reach for the little pouch, but frown as he opened the lid and upended the thing over the grass. Hardly anything left.. not even a mouthful.

"Im parched. We'll stop off at the Springs along the way so that I can refill this.. your day might be over, doesn't mean mine is." Likely the knight had plenty of other things to fill out when they returned, so he hopped into the Akalak's outstretched hand before the knight re-mounted his horse and they struck a path back towards the castle.. with a small detour along the way.

It wasn't a long ride.. but apparently it was long enough for a pair of skinny-dippers to take advantage of the moment and jump straight into the pool, naked. "Oh..." They didn't even need to see the couple to know this.. as they approached the spring from further out, they both caught sight of two sets of clothes at the side, and could hear some muffled conversation. "Still want to grab your water?" Iros didn't reply, but his silence said everything. "Hah. Wimp."

"Oh?" Instead of taking that with the normal insulted rage, the Akalak seemed to take it almost like a challenge. Somehow this made Arch feel very, very uncomfortable. Apparently with good reason to - the Akalak was lightning-fast, picking up the little ball of clay and leaning back in his saddle, stretching his arm back as far as it could go. "Well if you're so brave, I guess you can join them!" The fear in his practically non-existent eyes made the Akalak's grin widen just a little more. "Enjoy your walk back!" With that, he literally tossed the squirrel into the middle of the springs, right in front of the two skinny-dippers. Oh man, were things about to get awkward.. if they weren't already.

[Poppy Blackburn]

After a long day of training with Ser Ramsey Druva the day before, Poppy had appeared to be quite sore and exhausted by the intensity of the training. As a fresh new squire, she had not quite adjusted and adapted to the lifestyle yet, which no doubt included the mass amount of trainings which differed in scale and intensity. Her patron was a harsh teacher, but he did his duties well.

Despite that, he was not unkind and still afforded the squires under his charge a certain amount of luxury and leeway. Still being relatively unfamiliar with the lay of the land, the Sergeant Knight had told her about the hot springs, and suggested that she give it go and soothe the aches in her body in its warm waters.

This was but the beginning of her training, and starting it with an aching body was tantamount to starting it on the wrong foot. The extremely warm waters of Sacred Arch Hotsprings was well-known for being able to help soothe the body aches in joints and limbs, among other areas. Not having really been in one before, Poppy decided to give it a shot. With the decision to do so made up, she’d made the journey to the hot springs, leaving her heavy plate and chain armour behind in the barracks. All she had with her was her dagger and her longsword strapped onto her belt, and her steel heater shield strapped onto her back.

She’d decided to leave her bow and arrows behind as carrying too many weapons would be highly unwise and counter-productive, seeing as to how she was here to loosen up in the first place. As she made her way down the path, entering through the tell-tale arch that she was told to watch out for.

The sight and sound of water soon became apparent and Poppy could hear that she wasn’t alone in the springs today, noting the fact that they were indeed people here, but did not in fact take a closer look of the other occupants just yet. Unfastening the straps of her leather armour and removing it from her person, Poppy placed the armour on the ground, before stripping herself of her clothes.

Neatly placing the clothes in a small pile with her armour and weapons resting on them to prevent them for being blown away by a passing breeze. Poppy had just took a step into the water, when she saw a passing object flying past landing in the springs with a deep splash.

Was that a squirrel?! A flying one at that?! The puzzled lass began wading through the warm waters of the hot springs towards where she saw the squirrel land. As she came into the vicinity of the crash site, it was there that she saw the source of the noise to be from the couple. Poppy had no idea who the blonde woman was, but the guy further up near the rocks, she knew him. Alexander! That was him.

Coming up towards him from several feet away, she gave him a wave as she greeted him.“Hi Alexander! Fancy meeting you here! Here to soothe your training aches?”

[Alexander Faircroft]

Alex slipped beneath the rocky outcropping and breathed a sigh of relief before a loud splosh sound brought him back to reality. Alex managed to catch a glimpse of the falling object. A squirrel? Grey in colouring… Oh crap that’s Archie! Alex managed with his meagre and rather honestly pathetic swimming to get to the point where Archie had plummeted into the pool and was attempting a rescue for the small clay creature. Alex dove into the water after taking deep breath. The heat of the water stung his eyes as he held them open beneath it Bleary eyed slightly he cove down to spot the slowly fragmenting squirrel form of Archie. Pushing through the water he got closer and closer before finally getting a hand on the pycon.

It was at this point that Alex realized just how heavy Archie really was. And the return trip wasn’t fun. He fought with all of his strength pushing and clawing against the water trying to haul himself and Archie back to the surface. In a good thirty ticks he’d only managed to get a few feet up. His lungs were beginning to burn now he needed to get out of the water. He and Archie both needed air. Instead of swimming up Alex took a more… Horizontal approach. Swimming towards the edge of the springs with a furious push. Right past a rather lovely looking pair of…legs… Oh crap… He managed to get to the rim of the springs and with a big push hauled Archie ashore. Now breaking the surface again he hung over the edge of the waters. Coughing and spluttering and drinking down deep breaths.

“Archie… Cannonball… Does not mean… You need to be an anchor too…” He coughed heavily and then heard the voice for the first time. A familiar tone to it. Light and soft. Poppy… Well good to know she has nice legs… He managed to think before raising a hand and asking for a second. “That would be the case… If the squirrel didn’t want to play shipwreck…” Another loud cough against the rim of the springs. Right now he didn’t care about much else than getting air into his lungs. And letting his body actually rest. Hauling roughly twenty pounds of clay underwater had taken a lot out of him. He rolled against the stone work and faced the sky now.

“Hey again Poppy…” Alex sdidnt’t have much clue about what Fire was doing perhaps she was lost in thought or just enjoying the sun. Either way Alex right now just sat back leaning into the stone work. Half expecting a word of annoyance from Archie.

[Firenze]

The sun felt good on her body, Syna’s rays danced on her skin as she laid out. Quiet splashing sounds could be heard in the water at the cropping near her feet. Closing her eyes she watched the light dance behind her lids, the leaves casting shadows and making it seem like strange shadow puppets. “One of the women at the tavern told me about it. I’m glad she did; work has been good, but it’s… well, it’s work. I wanted to be able to relax for a little while; I missed it.” A smile curled the corners of her lips.

Her peaceful reprieve was short lived however as she peeked an eye open against the light toward a hollering from someone. Only the shadow of a man on horseback could be seen until something was flung by the man, through the air, and then plunked into the middle of the water where Alex was swimming. Shifting quickly to her knees, she scooted to the edge of the rock and peered over. Ripples moved from the center of the pool.

A flash of skin caught her eye as another woman had joined the ever-growing party of people. Firenze laid on her front her arms crossed on the hard surface and her chin resting on her hands, peering over the edge, watching. A smile crept across her face as she took in the scene. "What was that?" After a tick, it was quickly shown that what had cannonballed into the water was a small pycon squirrel. She wasn't sure if she'd ever met this particular pycon before.

Golden eyes followed Alex as he attempted to swim toward the center and grab the little gray fellow. She wanted to help, but she remembered the last time that she'd tried to swim in water that went over her head. Although she probably could keep herself afloat, thanks to Pul's teachings, trying to carry a heavy object while moving might be out of her skill range.

She didn't have to worry long as Alex had made it way over and pulled the heavy clay pycon to the edge of the water and then gave himself a moment to catch his breath. Torn for a moment, she wanted to join the crowd, but the warm rays of sun beckoned just behind her. Eventually joining the group won over, and she made her way down to the side of the pool to instead lounge in the shallow waters.

Slipping into the cool water gooseflesh sprang as her heated skin touched the liquid. The contrast wouldn't have been as severe has she not lain in the sun. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to get used to the difference in temperature.

The woman that had joined after the pycon had plunked into the water was nearby, she gave her a small smile, "Hey." Fire had never met the woman before, but then the city was probably the largest she'd ever been in, so it wasn't something unusual. The next question was directed toward whoever answered it, "it's getting pretty popular here huh?"

[Samuel Longwell]

Grading Complete Please edit your grade request thread so that it's obvious that it's been graded. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/problems with your grade. Name: Archailist XP Award: Weapon Py-whip 1 Rhetoric 1 Lore: Location: Sacred Arch Hotsprings Name: Poppy XP Award: Observation 1 Socialisation 1 Lore: Location: Sacred Arch Hotsprings Name: Fire XP Award: Cleaning 1 Socialisation 1 Land Navigation 1 Lore: Location: Sacred Arch Hotsprings Alex: Saved a squirrel Pycon Notes: I don't know if either Poppy or Archailist will come back but they're squires so they have no SE to pay. Enjoy your grades.