April Djed Storms bring May.... (Open)

[Sliver]

77th Day of Spring, 512 A.V. Sliver turned to see a girl, smaller than she, extending her hand in a friendly manner. The Kelvic looked her up and down. Perhaps she was from the city and knew the full extent of the damages it had incurred. The Kelvic extended her hand, shaking the girl's for a moment before letting it drop. Her eager manner was a bit off-putting for the Kelvic. My name is Sliver. It is nice to meet you. Lisbeth smiled knowingly at the Kelvic, who gave her a little glare, then the two parties split off at the gates, the traders going down one street, Sliver opting for another while figuring the girl would follow. As she walked she examined the damages. It seemed that some things had been repaired, but water flowed freely into the streets in some places, and it was clear the people of this city were not used to warm temperatures by the way their clothes were bunched and rolled. Of course why would they be? This was the Everwinter city after all. She pondered why everything was still in such disrepair. As far as she knew, the Ice Queen had returned to her seat of power, and she was unsure of why it was still so warm in the wake of the storm. Of course, the nature of this storm was magical, and the Kelvic snorted, magic always ruined the balance of everything. Sliver turned her head to see if the girl was still with her. Not the girl, she reminded herself. Ves.

[Sliver]

She had lost the Vantha girl it would seem. The Kelvic shrugged and continued her exploration of the city. Everything she saw pointed to it being beautiful: in the winter, and it was as she continued that she spotted something. It was just lying in the street like a casualty: a muddy lump that Sliver caught out of the corner of her eye. Her gaze turned down to see the back of the doll’s head, hair dried and dirtied plastered to whatever skin it called its own. She looked into its glassy gaze. It was carved from a light hued wood, some animal fur used for its now unkempt hair, its nose shorn off from some incident. She ran her finger over the smooth wooden groove that sunk into its face, a well-loved spot by tiny fingers. So this missing nose had not come about because of the storms then, the doll had still been a favorite even post disfiguration. She kept her gaze with the unblinking eyes of the thing as long as she could bear, then turned her gaze away and began to walk down the streets of Avanthal. She proceeded slowly, no intended destination, no rush to get anywhere. She was aware of the stares as she went by for she looked like a vagabond when compared to the Vantha of this city, and in one hand she held the arm of a broken, dirtied doll. She paced like this for some time, walking down the streets in no discernible pattern until at long last she arrived at the docks. Her gaze was drawn from the muddied streets to the open water, and she ended her walk with her bare and caked toes hanging over the wooden edge of a pier. She bent and lowered the doll almost reverently into the water, washed the dirt off its dress and out of its hair. She spent a few very feverish minutes at this activity, and when she drew the doll back up from the depths, she looked well upon the crater in its face, the sopping mass of wood, mud, and fur. Somehow the ugly creature reminded her of herself. It was hideous, barely humanoid in appearance, almost demon like with those glassy blue, unblinking eyes. It was clearly a representation of a Vantha, it even had a snowflake insignia on the top of one hand. Sliver examined it for a few more moments, then drew back her arm, stepped back a few paces, and shouted as she flung it as far as she could into the water. She crouched down then and rubbed her face. These were some of the few times when she despised what she was: The times when human thoughts interfered with the simple elegance that was the animal she truly was. Animals didn’t play with dolls, they did not regret, they did not feel this way. The Kelvic, who was now on all fours, snuffling and grumbling to herself. A few fishermen and women on the docks to either side of her rose and left in a hurry as the Kelvic turned herself in circles a couple times, then buried her head under her arm. In that near fetal position, curled up like a cat next to a fire, the wolverine fell into a fitful sleep.

[Balthazaar Kraigen]

Balthazaar felt like he had been traveling through the streets of the city for so long. After making sure that his group of travelers had found a place to stay for the night, he decided to take a little trip to find something to eat. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the depth of Avanthal and was most definitely lost in its maze like design. The worst part was that there seemed to be nowhere nearby to catch a bite to eat or even just a place to rest. He figured that it probably would've been smarter just to stay with the group for the night and then worked at the food situation when he wasn't so fatigued, but his stomach at gotten the best of him at the time and now he was paying the price for it.

Turning a corner, Balthazaar was greeted by the site of docks, boats and a large body of water. Frustrated at his inability to find anything correctly but hopeful at the prospect of food, Balthazaar mustered as much speed as he could and rushed along the docks looking for someone to talk to. After a few minutes of looking it became very apparent that everyone had packed up for the day and there was almost no one around. Discouraged and most importantly hungry, Balthazaar dropped to his back, put his hands on his stomach and began making groaning noises. Of all the ways to start his new life, this definitely had to be one of the worst.

Minutes passed while he stayed in this position, stewing in the pity party he had made for himself. It wasn't until everything got very quiet and it got dark enough outside that Balthazaar was able to hear the sound of something crackling to in the distance. Turning his head to the left, he was able to make out the slightest glimmer of light in the distance. Instantly recognizing both the noise and the light as a campfire, he jumped to his feet and made off in that direction. When he finally made it to the source, he was disappointed to find that there seemed to be no one around except for a strange looking dog who was curled up next to it. It was then that Balthazaar finally admitted defeat and decided to tackle the issue of his hunger in the morning. Using the last of his strength, he set up a tent near the fire and went to sleep.

'Hopefully things will go better tomorrow...'

[Sliver]

The shaggy creature opened two blinking black eyes. She snuffled and sniffed the air, testing it. Sliver caught the aromas of fish and salt water, coming across in a breeze that was much too warm that wafted from the coast. The wolverine cocked its head when it espied an erected tent on the docks, surprisingly near her current position. The strangely emotional events of the previous night were behind her, just another advantage of having the emotional processing of an animal so short lived. It was early morning, but people were already bustling and roving about, cleaning debris, clearing water from the streets, or setting up stalls. The Kelvic's damp nose twitched eagerly at all the different fish she could identify: Cod, Tuna, Haddock, Sardines. She licked her chops and just like that a human crouched naked on the docks after briefly being engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Several people turned to stare at the naked woman who was gathering her leathers from the dock and lazily tying and wrapping them back over herself, unaware of the blatant gazes fixated upon her scarred and tattooed body. Fully dressed the Kelvic ran a hand absentmindedly over her mohawk and slid a couple of gold mizas out of her backpack, making her way to the fish market. She examined the wares like an up and coming chef, picking and handling the fish, checking for blemishes or signs that they had been unhealthy prior to death. While she would have preferred to catch them herself, most of the fish heaped up in the stalls required a boat and nets to get, and the wolverine never much enjoyed being out in the open water for too long. While the Kelvic hadn't intentionally done it, her mannerisms had entered her into the bartering of prices, for by the way she surveyed the fish, the stall owners began to shout out lower prices to her over their wares. The Kelvic was confused by all this, but settled with a large chunk of red snapper meat and a small tin box of sardines for a silver and a few copper mizas before returning to her supplies on the docks. Whomever was in the tent had not yet stirred, and while Sliver was tempted to just kick the tent and have done with it, she resisted and made her way to a patch of rocks next to the dock where the charred remains of a fire lay encircled by stones. Using driftwood to stoke the embers she created from her flint, she found a couple pieces to use as skewers, and cooked her fish over the small fire, seasoning them with herbs Lisbeth had given her along with the rations. She wondered if the smell of cooking food might wake whoever was in the tent up.

[Balthazaar Kraigen]

That night Balthazaar dreamed of his home in the Spires. It was such a realistic vision, everything was the same as he remembered. Well everything except for his mother, who was no longer sick and was slaving away in the kitchen cooking a meal for the family. In the common room his father sat at his desk, researching potions and turning every now and then to give pointers to Balthazaar. It was a pleasant dream at first, warm and comforting. A sweet taste of home for the guilt ridden young man. Well, at least the beginning was. Unfortunately for Balthazaar, the dream took turn for the worse.

Suddenly out of nowhere, his mother dropped to the floor unconscious, leaving the food unattended. Rushing to her aid Balthazaar noticed that she was slowly but surely withering into a pale, almost zombie like appearance. With a accusatory glare, she pointed her finger at Balthazaar and said:

"This is your fault, everything is your fault...you're the reason I died"
Shaking his head in denial he began to slowly back away from the woman but was stopped by something hard against his back. Turning his head, he saw his father standing over him, face cloaked in shadow.Then drawing the hood from his face, a snake like appearance was revealed. Freaked out by this turn of events, Balthazaar pushed past his father and made his way towards the door, trying desperating to escape his family. However, much like every other horror scenario, the door was locked. It was then that he knew he couldn't run. Slouching his back against the door, he turned to face his fate. That is when a peculiar scent entered his noustrils: the smell of cooked fish. Confused at the source of this smell, he looked up at his father only to see that he had been transformed into a giant cooked fish. This is when reality came crashing down around Balthazaar and he was brought back to the world of the cognizant.

It took Balthazaar several moments to orient himself. At first he had actually believed he was back in his home in the Spires. After he had come to terms with his location, the biggest thing that became apparent was his empty stomach. Noticing the smell coming from outside his tent, he quickly dressed himself and left the tent to invesigate. The adjustment to the light outside left him partially blind for the first few moments after he emerged. He could only just make out the shape of what he could only assume was a human sitting in roughly the same spot he had seen the dog the night before.

After rubbing his eyes a bit he was finally able to see the woman standing in front of him. Instantly Balthazaar felt intimidated by this individual. Even for being smaller than himself, she seemed to carry the aura of someone who was easily three times his size. From what he could tell, she deserved it. For a minute or so, he stood simply staring at her, unable to think of anything to break the silence. However, the desire to break the silence was soon supersceded by the desire to eat as his eyes came in contact with the cooked fish sitting in front of the young lady.

"Food..." Balthazaar said in a barely audible whisper, his stomach growling in anger. Using his stomach's rage as a source of inspiration, he worked up the courage to say:

"Do you think I could have some of that?" BY this point he nearly drooling over himself. However, even with anger coming from his stomach, he realized how rude he was being and quickly added:

"I can pay you...I have money"

[Sliver]

Sliver glanced up as the figure emerged, near black eyes scrutinizing him as he came towards her. He slavered, much like a dog, but that had been her intention when making the fire so close, hadn't it? He was fairly nice looking as far as humans went, and the wolverine took notice of the way he sized her up, body language showing her appearance had much the same effect as it did on everyone she met. She grinned wolfishly at him, exposing longer than normal canines that protruded from her mouth, sealing the visual. She heard the grumble of his stomach, signalling he had probably gone to bed on it empty, and waited for his plea. While the Kelvic was no fan of layabouts having other people work and make the things they consumed, she was intrigued by the man. He was clearly not a Vantha, which made him a traveler like her. Sliver twisted her neck, cracking the bone as she contemplated his request, then gestured to the open spot on the other side of the fire, proffering the tin which had been sitting amongst the embers by sliding it towards him with a stick of driftwood. "Ill take a few coppers, but no more, stranger." She fished for something else to say, but she was no social butterfly, just a brooding mustelid. She relaxed her posture and took her gaze down a few notches in order to encourage more nervous social interactions from the man.

[Balthazaar Kraigen]

Visibly elated by her reply, he hastily grabbed a few coopers from his pouch and laid them by her stuff before grabbing the cooked fish with gusto. Within seconds he was tearing into the fish with ferocity, taking little notice to the world around him. It wasn't until his stomach started to quiet down that he realized how uncivilized he was being and slowed down. Taking a moment to clean himself, he lowered the tasty morsel and looked over the woman sitting across from him again. He still felt intimidated by her, but also very intrigued. She dressed different than many of the other woman he had ever seen in his life. She wasn't conventionally attractive, but she was exotic and almost primal, which was attractive in its own way. Needless to say, she was an interesting individual.

Taking another quick bite from his fish, he tried to think of ways to spark a conversation with her. Balthazaar had never been great with the ladies, having only ever had a few relationships in the past and even fewer other female figures in his life. Regardless, after her hospitality he refused to just eat and run. After all, she was the first person he had actually taken the time to interact with in this strange city, maybe she could help him adjust.

"Thank you...for the food" Balthazaar said with a smile, as he took another quick bite and then continued.

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you, I haven't eaten since yesterday morning..." Balthazaar said a nervous laugh, keeping an eye on the exotic stranger to gauge her reaction. After seeing the continuous detached look in her eyes, he began to recede to the shyer parts of his personality. After all, he didn't want to make anymore of a fool of himself than he already had.

'Man up...you aren't a kid anymore' A strange voice whispered in his head, pulling him out of his shell. Strangely invigorated by this simple statement, he mustered a wave courage and began anew:

"So I'm new around here...oh shit...where are my manners? My name is Balthazaar, it's a pleasure to meet you..." He then stopped dead in his sentence realizing he had no idea what the name of this benevolent stranger was.

[Sliver]

Sliver took this new found proximity to examine the man closer. His eyes were quite vibrant in contrast with the coals for eyes that she had. They were gleaming emerald, and she recognized the almost predatory sheen within them, even as he stammered on. Curious. The Kelvic was by no means off put by his tactless way of eating, for she had consumed her fish with much the same lack of grace, her only saving point the fact that she wasn't half starved, despite the fact she had transformed twice, building up the hunger. She stowed the money away into her pack with a cursory nod of thanks, and continued to examine him. She couldn't quite fathom him. He seemed able bodied enough, but also green, newly entered into the world, like a pup who hadn't yet tasted blood. She heard his words as they passed through her hearing, then realized after a long and perhaps awkward pause if the Kelvic knew social cues, realized he was waiting. Waiting for her name. She blinked. "I am sorry, I do not always speak when I should." She inclined her head, "You can call me Sliver, Balth-a-zar." She took her time with the long name, excessive, much like humans to give themselves silly titles that took up too much space. "I am new to the city as well." The wolverine paused again, using a splintered piece of driftwood to pick some fish remains from her sharp teeth. Once done she set the stick aside and decided not to let him hang anymore than necessary. "I am here to join the Icewatch. Why have you come?" This thought drew her gaze like a magnet back toward the downtrodden Everwinter city. It seemed so lost, just as she was, and the nagging doubts in her mind of her admittance therein were just as strong as the looks of those Kelvic polar bears guarding the gates, drilling into her soul.

[Balthazaar Kraigen]

Balthazaar began sweating bullets when the unique stranger didn't answer him right away. Instead she just stared at him, sizing him up and making him somewhat uneasy on the inside. He began to fear he had offended her with his words, perhaps he had brushed over some Avanthal form of greeting without realizing it. It was then that the woman finally replied with her name as well. After hearing that she seemed to have as much of a hard time with social interaction as he did, Balthazaar began to ease up and relax.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sliver" He said with a smile before finishing the rest of his meal. After watching her do the same but then start picking the remains out of her teeth with a stick, he began to feel relief. There was something simple about her, not intelligence-wise but just as a whole. From what he could tell, she seemed to care little for social graces. It was a comforting feeling for Balthazaar, especially after living in a place where so many Kelvics came and went. Deep in his own thoughts, Balthazaar almost didn't realize that she had asked him a question.

"I came here because..." He paused for a second. He wanted to say that he was on the run from his crazy Dhani heritage, but remembered his father's words. Although he didn't think this woman would have any connections to them, he didn't want want to chance it. After all:

'People aren't always as they seem' The voice whispered into his head again, reaffirming what Balthazaar already believed. Even so, Balthazaar never felt comfortable about lying and honestly he wasn't very good at it anyways. There was no way she would believe him, even if he tried.

"I've decided that I want to travel the world, Avanthal is a place I've always wanted to visit, ever since I was a child. So I decided to start here first, after all..." Balthazaar paused, this voice was foreign to him. Physically it was his, but the confidence and grace he spoke with as he blatantly lied to the woman was not. Realizing he was getting lost in his thoughts again, he fought back against the little voice in his head and continued with what he was saying. This time without the same grace.

"Well you see... I want to become an expert botanist one day... I'll need to learn about the flora all around the world to do so... but I plan on staying here for awhile..." Balthazaar said with a nervous smile. Trying to forget about his awkward outbursts, he started contemplating the woman's decisions to come to this city. He had heard of the Icewatch before, but only a few things came to mind. Mostly it was the polar bear Kelvics that made up a large part of them. This is when something began to click in Balthazaar's mind. The lack of caring for social graces, the exotic and primal aura, and the desire to join the Icewatch:

"Are you a Kelvic?" Balthazaar blurted out without thinking about the possible implications if she wasn't.

[Sliver]

This man before her was truly fascinating, not only did his eyes tell her another story about himself, but the way he spoke seemed to be double sided as well. Sliver was no judge of rhetoric, but his words had the confidence and tone of two different voices. The wolverine Kelvic fed a few branches into the fire and wrapped the remains of the fish in leather, stowing it away with her other supplies. She took a moment to gauge his reponse, one part smooth, other part stammering. Sliver suspected he was lying, but all humans lied, even if the Kelvic was growing less certain of how much humanity the man had. Of course she couldn't blame him for deception, trust had to be earned, and they had only just met. She just nodded concisely, leaving it up to Balthazaar to determine if she believed him or not. The part about botany was surely true, he seemed the type of person more interested in plants than people, and while the wolverine would never dream of such a profession, she could still feel a bit of respect towards the man for pursuing it. She wasn't surprised that he had come to the correct conclusion about her, it was not as if she was attempting to hide what she was, a silly notion if there ever was one. Regardless his outburst was still amusing, and she couldn't help but grin, exposing those sharp teeth again as she replied: "You are correct. You set your tent up next to me." The Kelvic sat back and looked out toward the water. She couldn't live out on these docks like some kind of waif for long, which meant she would have to approach the barracks soon, and a nervous tingle traveled down her spine at the thought. Her dark gaze drifted back to Balthazaar, and with it a question. I am not the first Kelvic you've met, no?"