A new way to approach others (Flashback) (Aello)

[Darren]

5th of Summer, Year 509 An exciting new foreigner has made her way into Avanthal, rumors and tall tiels of the arrow wielding huntress. Of course the Snowsong had to tell his friends of the 1st time they met and eventually the stories grew and became the talk of the town. Eventually news reached the Whitevine hold, excited chatter and excitement ran through the normally sober people. "A huntress?" Darren asked when he finally heard the news. "Oh yes, this one seemed to have put the Snowsong hospitalized in our place." a fellow hold member told him. "Hmm...seems like something I should look into. Alright thanks, I'll see what I can muster up" he said waving a quick good bye.He took a quick glance at the Snowsong's room to look at his condition before he headed out. True the Vantha was a Snowsong but he was still a resident of Avanthal, that huntress must answer to this man's condition He thought. He asked for a quick description of the woman from the Snowsong before letting him go back to his rest, a plan now forming in his mind. "Ah yes, that will do." He then spent the rest of the evening looking for the woman, while wearing some unique attire. The occasional stare was given to him, especially by the Icewatch riders and their Kelvic polar bears who merely gritted their teeth and shook their heads in anger at him. They knew under the apparel Darren was wearing, it was the man who constantly mounts the Icewatch Polar bears without their permission. The Kelvics growled at him occasionally taking a swipe at him to make him back off, in fear possibly, of being mounted once again. And thus Darren continued to make an arse of himself well into the evening where the moon finally revealed it's face illuminating the snowy lands. oocI'll let you set up the scene if you want. I won't tell you about my apparel since it's a surprise

[Aello]

The sky had been covered by night's dark blanket, and a crescent moon hung in the corner. Several silver stars shimmered around it, illuminating the sky like the fireflies lit up the earth from time to time. The air was cool, and several pale snowflakes were fluttering down towards the earth, surrounding the girl even farther in its pale white expanse. With each breath Aello let out of her tight pink lungs, a silvery mist would hover about her pale purple lips, before fading into the night. The girl's teeth were chattering lightly as she looked up at the stars, and stepped through the snow, crunching it beneath her feet. She was finding it harder and harder to keep warm in the thin mountain air, and knew that it was time to turn in from her fruitless hunt for the night. After all, she could always try again tomorrow. Perhaps then, she wouldn't wind up shooting someone else by mistake, or without food. Aello was gripping her father's old bow tightly in her left hand as she tread. She was certain, however, that now, for the first time all day, that someone was watching her. She could feel their eyes boring into her pale flesh, that which lay in the center of her back. "Who goes there?" Aello called into the night, her voice seeming to bounce off the snow-covered mountain peaks. "Especially at such a late hour of the night? Shouldn't you be in bed? Don't you guys have a curfew or something?" There was a slight pause. "Maybe it's just an animal," Aello whispered, being unable to see much other than the snow glowing a milky white in the light of the moon. OOCSo here is the deal. At this point, Aello is probably only a novice aurist, and at a competent lvl in shorbow. (Say mid thirties). She does not have her dagger yet, which means she won't be using dagger at all. And there is no Yune. So Darren, you do stand a chance, that is all.

[Darren]

Darren found her! Laying close to the snow he buried himself only a few inches into the snow awaiting his quarry. He watched as she suddenly tensed, she somehow noticed him? No. She was just being jumpy. "Mwahahaha..." he answered in a deep, slow voice, the sound of his voice carried across the night almost echoing in throughout the night. The next question put him off guard, that probably was the case for most of the younger people but for him he only agreed to a curfew set by his parents out of respect. Today was to be monumental he thought, a little setback like that isn't going to stop this from happening. "Yes...just an animal!" he said out loud. Darren couldn't stand it anymore as he revealed himself. A huge eruption of snow appeared would appear to Aello's perpendicular vision as he jumped out of the snow. "I am a bear of Icewatch. Watch your tongue foreigner, I have been assigned to keep watch over you while your in our fair city." Darren's eyes looked through the openings left for him, he saw a slim woman with the bow. His face furrowed in anger as his eyes glowed dangerously red. "You... your the one that attacked that Snowsong if I am not mistaken. If I had it my way I would have you leave this place entirely." he growled in a bearish way. He took a deep breath standing his full length towering a bit over Aello as he approached. "Anyways, I'm going to be your personal little guide" he said happily, unabashed. oocIt's a badly made bear suit btw. Like stupidly obvious.

[Aello]

"If you truly were an animal, then you would not be speaking in Common," Aello called into the night, her breath forming silvery clouds of mist around her purple-edged lips. "So, whoever you are, you may quit lying, for the one to whom you speak can see right through you." Slowly, Aello lifted her bow, and reached her right hand over her shoulder. She extracted a single peacock-feather tipped arrow from her quiver, and laced it onto her bow. When she heard a click, she knew the arrow had taken, and wrapped the three middle fingers of her right hand around it. The index and middle fingers were above the arrow, and the ring finger was below. Slowly, Aello began to pull the bow string back, she could hear it creak as it began to dig into her pale, shivering fingertips. "So you might as well come out to play," Aello called, as she continued to look around. She wasn't picking up on any auras, at least, not in the direction she was currently facing. Which could only mean that whomever she was talking to, and it seemed to be a man based off the voice, was behind her, or to her left, or perhaps, to her right. Aello turned her head to the right, but still came up with nothing. She turned her head to the left; nothing. He must be behind you... attempting a surprise attack of some sort. Although, he kind of ruined his opportunity when he spoke, and made himself known to us. There was a slight pause, which makes us wonder why he exposed himself to us at all. Aello closed her left eye, even though she could hardly see, and it seemed unlikely that it would interfere with her aim, should she need to shoot. Her fingers were turning white, the edges a deep purple as they held the bow tightly in place. They were trembling slightly, which caused the arrow to tap lightly against the bow's wooden frame. Together with the chattering of the young spiritist's teeth, a low, rumbling beat was formed. If only a few Snowsongs had been present, perhaps Aello could start up a band. "No one will hurt you," Aello called. "Unless you take a false step," she added under her breath. "So do not fear," Aello called into the night. "It is alright to show yourself."

[Darren]

Darren's eyes drooped at the foreigner's crushing logic. He sighed inwardly as he admitted any hopes of playing any tricks on her wouldn't be too successful. He shrugged as he made his presence known a embarrassed look on his face as he watched Aello's bow with interest. He did well to show caution this time, not being too familiar with the weapon. "Yea sounds like a great idea. Have any idea what you wanna do?" he waved a paw arm at Aello. Darren was to Aello's right as he showed himself. "Yea you really shouldn't do that. Seriously. I just wanted to chat a bit" he said, taking off the ridiculous bear mask he had. He moved slowly as he sat down, his bear butt on the snow. He motioned Aello to sit next to him, showing no malice as he ruffled his hair a bit. The application of claws beguiled him as they blocked him finger tips, it made the overall appearance look unprofessional as he ran his paws over his head. "Actually I was wondering if you can tone it down a bit with that" he said pointing a limb at Aello's bow. "Now normally I would try to intimidate or otherwise try something so that you'd be more reasonable with your ways, but I see now that your more then reasonable enough. Just a quick chat and we'll see how that goes." Darren explained, scratching his nose with his bare hands. "Let's start with the basics, who are you and what'cha doing here?"

[Aello]

Aello's right brow raised into a triangle without a base. He thinks he can intimidate you? Really? It was difficult for the girl not to laugh as she stared at Darren, after all, he was sporting the remnants of a polar bear suit, and thought he may scare her away by talking. "Chat?" she asked simply. "About what do you want to speak?" There was a slight pause as she watched Darren pat the ground, "and if you don't mind, you will remain there while the archer remains on her feet. No offense or anything, but that bear suit isn't what one would normally consider inviting. Something they want to be seen wearing... something they want to be seen next to." No one wants to be associated with this man, or his madness. Surely he is the village idiot? Aello lowered her bow a bit, and opened her left eye. She gingerly pulled the arrow off her bowstring, and placed it back in her quiver, before looking up at Darren again. "Know that if you say, or try anything stupid, you will find an arrow lodged between your eyes," Aello warned. "Is that clear?" She cleared her throat, and then simply stared at the man. Within seconds, a yellow-colored mist appeared around the Vantha. It was difficult to say in the pale light whether the yellow was bright, or dark. Whether it was pale, and fading around the edges, or full of life. Either way, it was enough for her to sense that Darren was immature, and rather playful. Aello's pupils had dilated by the time she blinked, breaking her level of concentration, and causing the aura to fade away when she opened them again. "Now, surely anything you need to say can be said with this arrangement? If not, you might as well go home before those that enforce your curfew come to get you. After all, it is only worth breaking the rules if you don't get caught. And trust an archer when she says that she will make sure you get caught."

[Darren]

"I'm trying something different for once instead of the usual method, thank you very much! You know, branching out. Always good to try new things, same said with being curious" he said making wide arches with his arms. "And finding answers." He sat calmly in the snow as she insulted him again. This time Darren couldn't hold back a laugh as he conceded the point. "Yea yea this wasn't a such a great idea" he admitted. Even though as he said that he was still pretty proud of his little suit, he spent the better part of five days roughly sewing some small animal skins together. In Taldera,most, if not all, animals had white fur so it was easy to give off the appearance of a polar bear with enough material. The claws and snout were a different but now was not the time to think about that he reminded himself as he snapped back to attention. He nodded enthusiastically, he understood that people aren't as accepting as the Vantha. Still the weird looks she gave him merely just gave him the idea that she might would like to chat. He merely waved away the veiled threat. It wasn't really much of a problem, he would just get a mild comment and go to sleep later. Hmm what's with the "An archer" stuff? Just give me your name miss. Mine's Darren, the more or less village ...hmm erm delinquent?" he said raising his hand to shake paws with her. The talk is confusing enough without her weird way of saying things, Darren's common really wasn't up to snuff. In either case he had to address the problems she had been causing. "You bad girl. No hurt Vantha and no hurt polar bears. Or I eat you." he threatened playfully "Perhaps I can help you out instead? Make you happy in city?" he added with several nods of the head. He mostly forgotten why he was here in the first place, he was just distracted by the fact he was out in his polar bear suit and was able to show it off. "Aww this suit is awesome!" he told himself in Vani. He rubbed his face on the material making odd noises as he reveled in the softness of the fabric.

[Aello]

"Aello," the archer replied simply. Her voice as cold as the night air. Perhaps a little colder. "It's nice to meet you Darren," she added, even though it was apparent that she did not mean it. While he says he is the delinquent, that doesn't seem to be the case. In that pathetic excuse for a costume, he seems little more than the village idiot. Someone you probably don't want to be seen hanging around. Thank goodness it is dark outside. "Now, as for the Vantha who got shot," Aello continued cooly, "he shouldn't have run in front of an arrow. Bloody fool that he is." There was a slight pause, "he had it coming. If he didn't want the pain of an arrow head, and warm blood pouring from his flesh, he should have run from the arrow as soon as he spotted it." There was a slight pause as Aello placed her right hand on her hip. "Now, would you care to rephrase, or do you want an arrow shot through your leg too? And this one would be intentional. After all, shooting a Vantha is useless, they're not worth ingesting." Bloody cannibal, the girl thought as she spat at Darren's feet. "Now, why don't you go back to your city, and quit bugging the person who did nothing wrong?" Aello hissed. "Unless you want a polar bear to come get you?" she added, with an evil grin.

[Darren]

He took a few more seconds appreciating the fabric of his hastily made suit before turning his attention to the one named Aello. "Pleased to meet'cha!" he replied simply, choosing to ignore the mood she was trying to set. "Same here! Outsiders are usually pretty annoying for the most part, but you seem alright" he replied cheerfully, making sure to add a hint of sarcasm in his eyes to leave Aello guessing. After hearing the scene she described for him it left him a bit unsure of what to do. The rumors around town didn't saw any of this he thought, trying to decide on what to do. "That's a weird way to place the blame on another man, even though it was a Snowsong. Hmm...scratch that. We need less Snowsongs. Have you heard them ever playing together? Horrible racket in my opinion." he commented getting off course. In any case, Darren shuddered at the woman's ...vivid description of the incident. He took notice in the amount of effort she placed to make herself seem as scary as possible. He stared with a deadpan stare at Aello, not taking anymore attempts to be cordial with her. She's one of those people huh? he thought silently, creepy as hell. Finally noting he was gaping slightly he abruptly closed his jaw and assumed a dominant posture. "No" he simply replied, crossing his arms and huffing his chest. He ignored the polar bear statement unsure of what it meant to imply. My goodness! it would be magical to be able to summon a polar bear he thought. "In anycase I'm erm... afraid of the dark." he lied, "And besides I got a better idea if you want. If you want to make a few more accidents with the some of the Snowsongs. We can arrange for that to happen. Or at the least give them a little scare." He offered picking up his happy modd again. He put on the cowl of the suit over his head before continuing. "I make a very convincing polar bear when I want you know." he said making a less then believable attempt to show his acting skills.

[Aello]

Aello simply stared at Darren, he was more than likely lying about the first part; on some level he did find her annoying. But that didn't mean he was going to make his opinion incredibly obvious to her, simply because he didn't want to wind up with Berus, now did he? An arrow in the leg isn't exactly what one would normally consider a grand old time. As the Vantha continued to speak, Aello's eyes glimmered playfully, she raised her right brow into an arch similar to the shape of her bow. "When people first learn certain things, they often suck at it. It is no surprise that this would be the case with the Snowsongs. Especially when they are not all playing the same thing. The same music," Aello said. There was a slight pause. "Some things were simply not meant to go together, which must be the case with them." Aello was silent for several minutes after that, considering the rest of Darren's words. "You really are quite the child, aren't you?" she whispered, small clouds of silver mist pouring out of the corners of her mouth after each spoken word. "Always in the mood to play pranks on people. Always in the mood to give them a scare and make a complete and utter fool out of yourself." There was a slight pause, "no, you won't be necessary in making them hurt, should they bother to get in the way. You're not necessary at all. You're just a guy in a polar bear suit, and if that doesn't say something about your low level of intelligence, then what the heck does?" After the words left her lips Aello fell silent. She returned her brow to its normal position, and tilted her head slightly to the side, waiting.