Born to Make History...?

by **Avela** on January 8th, 2018, 9:02 pm

71st of Winter, 517 AV

It had been roughly five days since the Rainbow Shells froze over, closing off the sea-dwelling creatures from the surface. That had been quite the inconvenience for everyone involved, including Avela, who liked to visit the world underwater when she could get around to it, but it had been solved thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of the people of Alvadas. A large hole still stood in the ice as testament to that hard work, allowing Alvadas's Charoda population to remain in contact with the rest of the world. Of course, given that it was still the dead of winter, there was still the question of what to do with the rest of the ice. And there, ingenuity prevailed again. While in some cases, it was still a problem, others clearly saw it as an opportunity.

Avela wasn't sure whose idea it was to transform a section of the frozen over caldera into a skating rink, but she was definitely not complaining. One enterprising young woman had set up a stand near the rink, renting out skates for relatively cheap, and it hadn't taken long for Avela to find a pair in her size. She sat at one of the benches that had been put up near the edge of the rink, taking a moment to lace up her skates as she surveyed the scene in front of her. The rink area was already full of people taking advantage of the season, dressed in their brightly colored clothes. Men and women, old and young, families with small children. An illusion of flying fish in a myriad of colors swam through the air above the rink, adding light and life to the scene.

She felt a burst of excitement as she tugged on her skates, her breath misting in the air in front of her face. The rink had only opened yesterday, from what she had heard, and not everyone had heard about it yet. Her father probably hadn't. She would have to tell him later today, if she could find his house, perhaps encourage him to let her take the younger children out to the rink. Later. Possibly even tomorrow. For now, she had discovered it first, and she was going to try it out herself.

True, Avela had never skated before. But even children were out there doing it. How hard could it be?

Satisfied that her skates were laced properly, Avela pushed herself to her feet. She swayed unsteadily, balanced on the shore, before finding the right center of gravity. There, she thought, with a little self-satisfied grin. Not so hard. Now, she just had to take a step forward...yes, perfect...and then another--hey, she was getting the hang of this!--and now all that was left to do was step out onto the ice.

The ice.

Avela hesitated for a moment at the edge of the caldera, questioning her decision. A human child, about 8 years old, skated backwards past her, flashing her a mocking grin. That fueled her resolve, and she grit her teeth in determination. She drew in a deep breath and stepped onto the ice...

...and instantly regretted her decision.

Her first step onto the ice was entirely too forceful, her right skate sliding out much faster than she anticipated. Avela attempted to fix this by stepping onto the ice with her left foot, but the end result sent her careening forward, arms flailing, unable to keep her balance. She let out a startled, warbling scream as she charged straight into the group of skaters, frantically trying to keep her legs together and underneath her. Halfway across the rink, she failed entirely, her right leg flying out too far and sending her tumbling onto her back, the impact knocking the wind out of her briefly. She continued to slide past startled skaters, her long, silvery hair falling over her face, before she finally stopped in a bright red-clad heap near the edge of the rink. Avela groaned, throwing a hand over her eyes as she tried to push herself up. Her normally pale face was flushed red around and underneath her iridescent scales.

So much for that. She hoped that nobody saw.

At least this couldn't get any worse.

Purchases :

by **Gomer Caitiff** on January 9th, 2018, 8:27 am

Whatever the season had brought with it, Gomer felt relatively free skating over the smooth ice, awkwardly weaving his way between children and couples alike for lack of a finer control over his trajectory. At first it had been slow going, but thanks to a bright eyed, wide smiled little girl with a pair of lopsided pigtails, he'd taken his pint-sized instructor's lessons to heart, and she had let him go off on his own - checking in on him every now and then, just to make sure he hadn't broken anything. The child was obsessed with the idea of blood coming out of a human being, to the point that Gomer was a little concerned she might knock him down and skate over him herself.

Waving to her as she speed by, pigtails trailing wildly behind her, Gomer kept on his far more lackadaisical path. There were plenty of others like him: extended periods of snow were rare enough, and it wasn't often they had so fine an area to skate on. The last time he'd tried, it had ended with him soaked up to his waste in lukewarm water - the ice nothing but a true and blue illusion. With the bite of cold nipping at his neck but not quite able to permeate the wooly fabric of his sweater, he found he much preferred gliding across actual ice as opposed to slipping through it. The prior was much more engaging.

Feeling one of the strings that secured the skate to his boot beginning to loosen, Gomer further slowed his pace, shifting his weight and aiming to land a short distance to his right, where firm snow awaited him. Not quite aggressive enough, it took an extra chime to arrive at a spot a good distance southward of his intended. He heard a supportive, "Nice control, Mister Gomer!" to which he raised a triumphant fist.

Carefully planting first his right then left into the snow drift, Gomer knelt down to readjust his knots, humming a set of four notes his mother always sang to himself to keep his thoughts from idling. Paying little attention to the rink until he had finished lacing up both skates with a firm yank on the strings before tucking them into the top of his boot, he turned to head back out onto the ice. Without taking even a step, he stopped to watch a neatly bundled young woman casually coming to halt a handful of centimeters from his feet prone and quite dazed in appearance.

"Bit cold for a swim, don't you think?" He leaned over her, eyebrows raised but mouth turned up in a friendly grin. She was small and thin, though the manner in which her silvery white hair had splayed itself out around her made her appear as though she had a disproportionately large head, which, in turn, made her body seem all the slimmer. Having yet to stand up himself, Gomer reached down and helped the woman to her feet, keeping his hands well above her waist and offering his arm in support should she need it.

It was only after she was standing that he noticed the shimmering scales, but his attentions were far more focused on the woman's embarrassment than her fishy appearance. "I believe the trick is to use your feet." To illustrate, he lifted his foot a small distance from the ground and pointed to the skate. "Otherwise, I think they'd give you more of these."

Purchases-1.5 GM for the skates!

OOC Edit :

by **Asterope** on January 9th, 2018, 2:04 pm

Aster stood by the edge of the makeshift rink, watching people glide over the ice with fascination. She'd never seen such a thing before, and it delighted her. She was curious to try it herself, but also wary; balancing on ice on her own two feet was hard enough, let alone on blades.

So she'd contented herself to settling down and simply watching with a small smile playing around her lips. A large majority of the skaters were children, which she quickly attracted a horde of despite simply sitting. The first one almost fell over as he skated past her, too busy staring with wide eyes at the glassy horns that curved out from her temples.

Aster laughed softly when he caught himself. "Careful, now. You don't want to hurt yourself." After that a group of three or four more had skated over. Aster had to admit, she was a bit surprised by the attention; people normally left her to her own devices. But she supposed children weren't quite the same. She didn't mind overly, fond as she was of children, but a mixture of pleased vanity and embarrassment washed over her, sending a rosy hue to her cheeks.

After some cajoling and pleading from the young ones, Aster found herself relenting and giving in to their demands to join them on the ice. She stopped by the woman who was renting the skates, picking out a pair that fit, an swapped her boots for them. She laced them tightly before standing cautiously on the edge of the rink.

Her legs wobbled slightly, but balancing while still on the blades seemed feasible enough. A cautious step proved that walking was alright, as well. Stepping onto the ice, Aster let out a small, undignified squeak when one foot went sliding. The children giggled, clapping their hands as Aster stood still on the ice, arms stretched out to keep her balance.

"You're not supposed to walk, miss Aster!" One of the children piped up. "Look, like this!" The little girl pushed off with one foot, and then the other, sailing around with smooth gliding motions rather than the choppy steps Asterope had attempted.

Finding a child attached to each hand, Aster hesitantly pushed forward with one foot. She wasn't used to feeling so clumsy, nor did she like it, but she was determined to get the hang of skating. The two young boys on each side of her clung tightly to her hands, helping keep her upright.

It took some time, but with the help and encouragement of the children, Aster began to get the basics. Her legs still wobbled slightly, and her movements were hesitant, but she could push herself around on the ice without falling and without the help of being supported.

The children cheered as Aster glided shakily across the rink, arms held out, and the Eth laughed breathlessly, surprised to realize how much fun she was having. Perhaps she would buy the skates off of the woman so that she could come and practice some more on her own.

Gradually the children following her dispersed, some of them leaving while others went to join their friends. Aster waved them all off with a smile, pushing off slowly to glide to the edge of the arena, ready to take a small break. As she did so, a silver-haired woman went flying past her, arms windmilling, with a small shriek.

Aster stuck her own arms out as she braked clumsily, turning to watch with wide-eyes as the woman finally toppled over and slid to the other side of the rink. Pushing off once again, she slid across the ice after the woman, careful to avoid bumping into her. A young man was looking down at her with some bemusement.

"Are you alright? That was quite the tumble," Aster spoke to the girl as the young man offered to help her to her feet, tipping her head slightly to the side, loose wisps of fawn brown hair falling to curl loosely around her face.

Ledger :

OOC :

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Avela** on January 10th, 2018, 6:02 am

"Bit cold for a swim, don't you think?"

The sound snapped Avela out of her dazed stupor, making her look up sharply at the speaker. The look she shot him was the look of a startled animal; for a moment, Avela wasn't entirely processing what she was seeing. It came to her in pieces: first, that (Avalis!) he was a man, second, (Ionu!) that she had literally just fallen at his feet, and third (Rak'keli, Laviku, and all the other gods whose names I swear I totally know!) that he was actually rather good looking.

Even more color flooded into Avela's face, if that was possible. She could feel the warmth on her skin and tried to fight back the embarrassment, but it was like fighting back the rising tide. It came over her anyway. She let him help her up--she was a little too shell-shocked to really resist anyway, and turned towards him once she was on her feet.

Well, sort of on her feet. Once she was standing, she realized that the ground was still just as slippery as it had been, and she let out a little squeak of terror, grabbing onto the man's offered arm for support.

"I, um..." Something witty for the situation. Oh, gods, there had to be something witty she could say for this situation. Something charming, to play off how much of a fool she was making of herself. "Uh...y-yes. Yes, I gathered that I was supposed to use my, um...feet."

Ice, rise up and swallow her now. She'd have better luck in the frigid water beneath than she was currently having. At least then, she'd probably be able to breathe. No such luck, so Avela pushed her hair out of her face with her free hand and took a deep gulp of cold air, trying to regain some of her composure.

Unfortunately, it seemed the man wasn't alone. Avela jumped as the newcomer made her appearance, and...wow. She was beautiful. An Ethaefal in all her glory, graceful and proud and...well, next to her, Avela felt a lot like a bundle of arms and legs, wrapped up in a red coat, with a mop thrown on top of it for emphasis. Technically, Avela thought, Konti were supposed to be delicate and graceful. And technically, she thought, remembering the journal she had left untranslated, they were actually supposed to be able to speak their own damn language.

She had long, long suspected that Avalis had actually made a mistake in creating her.

"I'm fine!" she said quickly, realizing that she was gawking. She pulled her arm away from the man's to show just how fine she was and quickly replaced it as she started to waver (she was definitely not fine), but tried to play it off with a smile. "See? Totally fine. Sorry to worry everyone. So, if you could...um...just help me over there..." She tilted her head towards the bank. "...I think I'm going to find a hole to crawl in and leave...oh, about never."

OOCThank you both for joining! Nice to meet you! I think I'm going to close the thread now, though, so it doesn't get too crowded

by **Gomer Caitiff** on January 10th, 2018, 6:53 am

The little woman's reply was a flustered bundle of butterflies, and Gomer almost felt a tinge of guilt for teasing her as her face burned ever more cherry beneath her ice flecked, silver cascade of hair. Almost. "Well, you're doing much better already, standing and all." He chuckled the words out, adjusting his weight to compensate for the woman's as she leaned precariously on the arm he had extended.

When the horned woman carefully glided over to join them, expressing her concern, Gomer offered a polite bow his head, accustomed to being ignored in favor of more important things, though he remained where he was, at the little woman's side, his aid necessary by the manner in which her hands were wrapped around the wool of his sweater in spite of her blaring embarrassment. As she drew away, Gomer's brows raised in gentle surprise, wondering if he had misjudged her.

It seemed that her mortification had finally overcome her basic survival instincts; the manner in which her body tilted side to side, arms shifting in and out in a restrained attempt to remain upright only served to further his amusement. The lie was like a little cloth thrown over a puddle, as if it might somehow conceal it, but Gomer played right along, not wanting to offend.

Keeping his voice warm and clearly in jest, his head tilted just slightly. "Would you like a little... push? We could always help you dig as well, I don't see anything over there quite suited to what you have in mind." He let his eyes look over the horned woman as he suggested she assist in whatever the little silver-haired mess of discomposure might need.

She was stunning. It was a simple word for a complex mix of feelings that left him wondering whether the face she wore was hers or something fabricated from the various tools Alvadas so eagerly provided. Whatever the case, she was certainly the more striking of the pair, with her elegant posture, shimmering horns, and sun polished skin.

Still, she retained her composure, making her a far less interesting subject for the time being - life wasn't to be had in gentle, proper worry; it was much more vibrant in red faces and flustered tripping over one's own tongue. "But, if you would care to forestall your 'hole seeking' for a moment, I'm certain one of us wouldn't mind helping you find your feet." He winked at the horned woman, good nature and warm smiles, though he had since retracted his arm, allowing the silver haired woman the chance to stand on her own. After all, she wouldn't learn if he didn't let her try.

by **Asterope** on January 10th, 2018, 1:55 pm

Aster watched the girl stumble over her words with amusement; up close, the silver hue of her hair and the glint of the iridescent scales that graced her forehead revealed her to be a Konti. Aster had seen plenty during her brief encounters with Riverfall, though she was slightly surprised to find one of the pale women so far from there.

A somewhat puzzled look of bemusement crossed Aster's face when the petite girl spoke, the Eth's brows raising slightly. It took a moment to realize what exactly she meant, and a soft chuckle escaped Aster when she did. "We all do silly things sometimes. You're learning which is what's important," Aster told the Konti, with a brief flashback to an embarrassing encounter of her own earlier in the season.

The wink that the man threw her over the Konti's head caught her off guard slightly, and Aster blinked, flushing slightly. He was clearly the teasing type, from what he'd said so far to the poor flustered girl in front of them; Aster wasn't sure what to do with that, exactly. It made her realize all the more how she still wasn't quite used to her own behaviour, and self-consciousness crept up inside her chest.

Clearing her throat slightly, more for her own benefit, Aster flashed a smile that was slightly too forced and nodded encouragingly. "Yes, of course. I'm not very good myself but I'd love to help if I can. I'm sure our...friend here would as well."

It seemed introductions were in order, then, to avoid such awkward phrasing. Besides, it appeared that the three of them were going to be spending time together skating (or attempting to) anyway. "You can call me Aster, by the way." It had been a long time since she introduced herself to someone by her full name; the shortened version fell off of her tongue naturally now, entirely out of instinct.

She watched the man retract his arm from the Konti's grip as she awaited introductions, and seeing the other woman's legs beginning to slide again, automatically offered her own out. Of course she would have to learn how to stand on her own if she wanted to learn to actually skate, but Aster wasn't quite ready to watch the Konti wipe out again just yet.

Recalling the way the children had guided her until she found her balance, Aster flicked her golden eyes over to the man. "Why don't we each take one of your hands and help you around until you get used to balancing?" She suggested, shifting her gaze back to the shorter girl.

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Avela** on January 11th, 2018, 3:26 am

"Er...yes," Avela said, in reply to the man's comment. "I'm quite good at..." She squeaked as her feet made yet another attempt at running away with her, "...standing."

Avela focused on looking at the ice beneath her feet rather than looking at them. It was a lot easier to stop making a fool of herself that way. Until the ice cleared up well enough for her to see their reflections, at any rate, but she wasn't going to worry about that now. She tried to start inching her way towards the back, but having no idea how to move, and still being anchored to the man's arm, all she managed was a weak little shuffle.

At least she hadn't brought the children out here, she thought. If Kairen saw her falling all over herself like this, the little snot wouldn't let her hear the end of it.

She let out another squeak as the man removed his arm, sure that she was going to fall, but this time, this time Avela managed to keep her feet under her. For now, although her position was precarious, and it was clear that this was taking all of her effort to do. One of her hands was outstretched, about to reach for the woman without her meaning to, but slowly, she let her hands fall to her side. She looked up at the woman's words of encouragement and the man's offer of aid, relief warring with embarrassment for control of her face. If they were willing to help her, even willing to teach her...

...But if she stopped to learn, she would fall again. She was almost sure of it at this point. If she stopped now and let them take her off the ice, she could at least spare herself from further embarrassment. If she did that, though, she'd never learn to skate, and how many other opportunities would she have? This winter, and who knew when the next one would come around?

The desire to quit was strong, just about as strong as her reluctance to quit. It was a feeling that she had felt building up inside her on many occasions, a constant war inside herself. It was the same feeling she got whenever she looked at her mother's old journal...whenever she thought about that life lived and a journey she had never taken.

She drew in a deep breath and forced herself to look up, meeting both of their eyes. "That--that would be great, actually, if you both don't mind. My name is Avela Sallis." Sallis was a human surname, which might seem odd to anyone who knew much about Konti, but it was still Avela's name. After some hesitation, she offered her hand to Aster to take.

"Where do we start?"

by **Gomer Caitiff** on January 11th, 2018, 4:19 am

Introductions seemed to be in order, and while Gomer was the last to yet give his name, he cherry picked which answers to give, focusing more on Avalis' question. Carefully he stepped onto the ice and checked his own balance before pushing himself forward with a thrust of his foot. At a slow even pace, he passed the two woman, happily catching onto Avela's hand with a merry, "This way!"

While by no means a talented skater, Gomer had more than enough bruises beneath his baggy sweater and leather pants to mark the painful progression it had taken to gain a competent mastery over keeping his balance. Sharp turns, however, were a bit out of his range of skill, but the pace he set was more than slow enough to compensate for even his novice capabilities.

He kept his knees bent slight and body tensed should Avela - or Aster - have need to pull upon him to keep herself upright. Laughter in his words, he made sure not to move a speed much faster than a crawl upon land, "You see that pigtailed comet there?" He gave a brief wave with his free hand to his teacher as she streaked by, wildly waving both arms in passing greeting. "I think you're quite lucky to have us for instructors. I'm not certain the bruises will ever go away."

by **Asterope** on January 24th, 2018, 3:27 am

Aster took Avela's hand in her own, the other woman's skin chill to the touch in comparison to her own. She considered the question for a moment, but before she could respond, Gomer pushed off and grabbed Avela's hand as he glided by. His movements yanked Avela into motion, and Aster found herself following as well.

She yelped as she suddenly found herself gliding after the other two; slow as it may be, she hadn't been expecting it. Disguising the ungraceful sound with a cough, she held out her free arm to find her balance before pushing off with one foot to catch up to Gomer so that Avela was in between the two of them. It was dicey for a moment, Aster thinking she'd overestimated the distance, but while holding hands was meant to keep the Konti upright, it helped reel her back in and stay on her own feet as well.

Her eyes settled on Gomer, who had apparently become the leader of their little impromptu group, and took in his stance. His knees were slightly bent as opposed to her own straight legs, and Aster mimicked the pose, bending her knees just slightly; despite being a small change, it was a huge improvement. Immediately Aster noticed her feet felt more stable on the ice, and her legs felt much more sturdy without any more faint tremors.

Watching the pig-tailed child go whizzing by, Aster laughed quietly. Her own instructors had been gentle on her, but she was also covered in her fair share of bruises. The first time she'd fallen, her vanity and pride had reared their heads and she'd been ready to call it quits to avoid further embarrassment, but she was weak to children; a small army of them pleading at her with big eyes and pouty mouths was impossible to say no to.

She was sort of glad she'd stuck through it, though; there was a sort of exhilarating freedom in gliding across the ice, even when doing it as slow and cautiously as she currently was. She envied the people around her gliding so effortlessly. They seemed so graceful and elegant, it made her want to learn to skate with as much ease as they did so she could join their ranks.

Bringing her attention back to the Konti that was gliding along at a crawl beside her, mostly thanks to her own and Gomer's movements, Aster offered an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, we'll be gentle. You're doing well. Why don't you try giving a small push of your own?" They had made it just about a quarter of the way across the rink by then, their pace a mere crawl to accommodate for Avela.

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Avela** on January 26th, 2018, 5:18 am

Avela yelped as she found herself suddenly pulled into motion, her other hand tightening around Aster's and dragging the taller woman with her. Ice sped underneath her feet at a frightening pace, and she was going to fall, she was going to fall, she was going to...!

Avela blinked when she realized that she somehow wasn't falling. In fact, while what she was doing might, only under a very gracious definition, be called skating, she was still upright. She looked down at her feet in astonishment, then up at the man whose hand she was holding onto, then back at Aster. Her mouth opened in a startled laugh. "I'm not falling!" she said, as if she couldn't believe it.

She tried to mimic the man's stance, bending her knees somewhat. It seemed counterintuitive--why would she want to get closer to the ground?--but strangely enough, it seemed to help. Maybe that was why the children were so good at it. Looking in the direction of the girl that the man pointed out, Avela noticed that she was now skating near the snot-nosed little boy that had angered her enough to get her out onto the ice in the first place, the one that reminded her so much of her own little brother.

"I believe it," Avela said, in response to the man's comment. "If my little brother saw me, he'd never let me live this down." Which was why she was going to learn to skate. Today. So that when she showed up tomorrow to bring Kairen and Nerea down here, she could impress them with her prowess and shut Kairen up for once.

As far as goals went, it was good enough, so when Aster encouraged her to start trying to skate on her own, Avela nodded, setting her face in a look of determination. She took a deep breath and pushed off of one foot, flinching and bracing herself for impact.

It never came. Instead, she glided forward, not as swiftly or as gracefully as she would like, but still upright. Avela straightened up, laughing again. "Look!" she said. "I'm doing it!"

Template by Gomer Caitiff

Completed Born to Make History...?