Snow During Troubled Times (Silarial)

by **Svasra** on January 26th, 2013, 6:18 am

Svasra Snowsong

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."

-Marcus Garvey

Timestamp: 34th of Winter, 512 AV

It had snowed the previous day. A heavy, Avanthal snowstorm. The streets were filled with light fluff, glittering in the light of the sunshine. Almost mid-morning, the snow was slowly being cleared off the pathways by the Iceglaze, who were often marked with a higher gnosis as they rose the ranks of the Hold. Some were other Hold civilians though that didn't have the time to wait and cleared it with their own Mark of Morwen. Svasra watched it all from her window, though the lustre of new snow was lost to her empty gaze. At this time in the morning normally people were bound to be outdoors, talking, laughing, waving to summon friends from the grips of other social interactions. The Snowsongs would travel to find inspiration midst the landscape, and the people, putting it down to music or word.

Today though, it was different. The air hung with a depressed mood with the news of The Aurora Showcase. Such gallery was the pride and joy of the race that were built upon beauty and grace. The showcase not only meant a lot to the Skyglows that provided the pieces, it lived in the hearts of every Vantha within Avanthal. To hear the ruthless destruction of its priceless items, and feel the gloomy weight of every person, Svasra found nothing to write of today. She could barely wrap her head around the autrocity done within their own walls, let alone consider her own pen and paper.

The children milled in their quiet ways, passing to school, going to lunch, beginning their treks home. Had so much time passed already? Svasra knew it was afternoon, and all she had done was slouch around her room and come to her parents' call to lunch and dinner. She shook her head slightly and touched the window, feeling the chill through the glass. "I need to go out," she sighed, and reached for her coat.

Svasra found herself outside, dutifully observant of the particularities she often wrote about - the glitter of the snow, the crisp sensation of the air down her throat, the gentle caress of the sun. She couldn't concentrate on it though, and shuffled along. She wondered how someone could do such a horrendous thing to Avanthal's society. She wondered why.

"HEY!" Svasra's gaze snapped upwards, worry building in her throat. Was someone being hurt? Threatened? Kidnapped? Her worried eyes found a child, no more than ten perhap, looking very indignant as he pouted at an older child. "My back was turned, that was not fair!" the boy continued in the same anguished tone.

Now curious, Svasra travelled closer slightly, listening as the other laughed. The two boys bickered in the fond manner of family, before a much louder, "OOF!" was heard. Now Svasra knew what caused the noise, having watched the ball of snow going sailing through the air with the grace and determination of an owl with prey. It landed squarely on the other's jacket, much to their displeasure. The retaliation came quickly. Before she knew it the little ones were scrambling for cover and had piles of snow. "No iceballs!" was clearly heard.

The Snowsong watchd for a moment, her amusement obvious as she shifted her weight to the back of her foot for a more comfortable position. The younger boy initially hit threw another snowball, though this one went too wide and hit a girl on her way home. Dropping her books with a curse that didn't suit her age, the girl didn't hesitant to throw one with the condescending exasperation little girls had. It didn't take long for the group to widen to four, then five, soon eight, and then eleven.

Some might have chided the children for being so noisy, so reckless in this little street as they slipped and fell and laughed and bumped heads. Svasra could only watch with a wide smile though, feeling her emotions lift with the sight of such pure joy. The children were saddened by the news of the gallery, but they chose not to dwell on something they couldn't change. That was quite the admirable quality about children, the little moments when they seemed heartless and they didn't understand. They just simply didn't see the point wasting time to fret on the past.

Inspiration did come after all, in the most odd of places. Svasra nodded slowly to herself, feeling the poem draw up from the roots of her mind. She began to turn away before a thump! caused her to freeze. The snow slid down her back slowly and for a moment the children stopped as they watched the culprit slowly back up, eyes wide. Svasra turned around, looking for the source, finding a boy with violet eyes staring at her. For a moment she seemed stern, eyes narrowing as they darkened.

"Not fair, my back was turned," Svasra huffed with a throw of her arms, reaching down to pack together a snowball to throw towards the child. He instinctively moved out of the way and threw another that Svasra ducked under. The children smiled, and with the ease of their youth, accepted her into their game with shrieks of laughter and lumps of snow.

by **Silarial** on January 30th, 2013, 1:27 pm

“You can reach me by trusty eagle mounts,” Silarial sang softly, resorting to humming every once in a while, making up the tune as she walked in a leisurely pace towards her Hold. She had been walking around the market looking for a new blouse. Not the type of blouse that she usually wear everyday, no. She was looking for something fancy that she could wear for her performances. It should be a comfortable fit, easy to move around with, and not too revealing. She wouldn’t want the male crowd to get any ideas about her because of the costume she wore. There were some nice blouses for sale, but those did not have the all qualities she was looking for. So she decided to go back to her Arvinta and catch some sleep before she was needed at the tavern.

She continued in her unhurried pace even when she could already view the Snowsong Arvintas from her street. There was no need to hurry, and she really didn’t feel like hurrying at that moment. In fact, she’d rather not sleep the afternoon away, bur there really was nothing else for her to do. Strolling around the city was not what she’d want to do at the time. There were just so many horrible incidents happening one after the other and loads of awful rumors floating around the city that if felt oppressive just walking from one place to the other. Just as she was thinking that, a passing Vantha stared at her vagrantly, as if she was the miscreant who vandalized the Aurora showcase last night. Silarial stared back at him and flashed a polite smile and for a while, the man seemed taken aback by such a gesture. However, he just shook his head and continued on his way. And so Silarial did the same, bursting into song once more to flush the negativity away from her system.

“You can reach me by traveling merchants’ caravans; You can make it through the wastes with Frostmarches too,” Her voice came out shaky but she paid it no mind. She was just singing to keep herself entertained, not to perform in front of people. Besides, it was fun making up phrases and bringing them to life by infusing music into them. “I don’t care how you do it, just get here if--”

Her singing trailed off as she arrived in front of the Hold. There were children, about a dozen of them, throwing snowballs at one another in a free for all. A wide grin crept its way onto Silarial’s face, periwinkle eyes changing into a vibrant shade of green. The kids were having so much fun that she had to join them. Silarial bent over to scoop snow on the ground, balled it in her palms and lobbed it at the playing children.

Only, she didn’t hit one of the children. The snowball arched in the air and straight into a young woman. Silarial flinched, trying to remember if the woman was even part of the snowfight. She walked closer with the intent of profusely apologizing. Upon getting a clearer view of the woman’s face, her eyes widened in surprise. No wonder she looked familiar. “...Svasra? Oh Svasra I’m sorry! I was trying to join the children play.” Her eyes traveled to Svasra’s hands and she saw she was armed with a ball of powdery white snow. Her lips curled into an amused smile. “...wait, are you in on the fight too?”
oocomg I'm so sorry! I didn't notice you had posted the thread already. I tried to reply as soon as I read it, so I apologize if this seems rushed. :c

by **Svasra** on February 2nd, 2013, 5:03 am

Svasra Snowsong

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."

-Marcus Garvey

oocNo worries, I'm not the fasted replier anyways, so don't sweat it. ^^

Teams developed randomly, but quickly into the game. It didn't seem to be any sorting by age, gender, or appearance as soon it seemed there were three teams. Svasra found herself on one when a child yelled a warning when a snowball was careening towards her head. She'd managed to duck it and scrambled for cover behind their small snow-wall they'd built. Svasra took a quick assessment on who she was not supposed to not hit, and tried to remember their general appearance as she began to throw snowballs. They often missed or were wildly out of line, though the few that did land on their targets made Svasra laugh and cheer.

Svasra yelped dramatically as she was hit with one particularly hard snowball, tumbling over in complete slow-motion, flailing and crying her 'last words' as she fell. "Tell my mother I love her!!" When she flopped onto the ground, she lay still. Having strategically fallen behind one of the make-shift snowbanks, after a few moments the sound of her team coming to investigate crunched against the snow.
"Did she faint or something?" a girl piped up.
"Maybe you knocked her out," another commented, seemingly speaking to the girl who had hit her.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, I hit her in the stomach," one replied, though she sounded a tad nervous. Their footsteps drew near, and Svasra made her face go slack.
"Ah, that doesn't look good," a young boy giggled, bending down to poke Svasra's cheek.
"Torvik, stop that!" The sound of a hand clapped down to drag the young boy away was heard.
"... Should we get Whitevine?" The girl who had hit her, the volume of the voice made her sound very close.
Another moment passed. Svasra's eyes shot open and she grabbed one kid while they all screamed in perfect harmony. She didn't hold very hard though so when the girl ran off, her hand slipped away easily. Svasra laughed quietly, while the girl came back around after her initial alarm wore off. The Vantha woman grinned, to the amusement of the others. The laughter began soon after, imitating screams, flails, the shocked looks, and even the girl who had darted away, another fell, a couple hid.

Svasra shared the mirth, standing to brush herself off and regain some dignity. For some reason scaring children always brought the giggles to them, as though they just laughed in the face of fear. Once everyone had been brought down to mild chuckles, the game resumed. Svasra found herself dropping into a crouch when she saw a snowball come her way peripherally, letting it hit someone behind her.

Another followed directly after when she'd turned to ensure the kid was alright. It hit her straight on her back, at the awkward level that made pieces of snow leak down her back underneath the lip of her heavy coat. A shiver passed through her body as she turned to seek the culprit, snowball already scooped up - though found it was not a child at all . . .

"...Svasra? Oh Svasra I’m sorry! I was trying to join the children play," came a recognizable voice, and Svasra lifted her gaze from the level she expected the thrower to be at to meet the eyes of Silarial. Before she could speak though, Silarial continued with a grin, "...wait, are you in on the fight too?"

In response, Svasra only nodded and bent down to make another snowball, tossing one to Silarial. "Perfect, another adult, let's make our own team to hold out against this mongrels," she said.
"Hey! We're not mongrels!" came the protest of the kids in their scoffing tone. Svasra snorted, and simply tossed a snowball in the direction of the voice, hearing one of them scramble out of the way.

Taking the wrist of Silarial, Svasra practically dragged her away to their own spot. "I've been assuming you wanted to stay," she said in an apologetic tone, tilting her head at the woman. "Did you want to?"

by **Silarial** on February 10th, 2013, 7:10 pm

Silarial was caught off-guard by the snowball Svasra threw at her, the powdery ball hitting most of her torso. She playfully stuck her tongue out at the kids upon Svasra’s suggestion on teaming up against them. As what the had woman said, it was a perfect idea. The ladies against the squirts. A tinkling giggle resounded out from her lips at the kids’ quick retort, watching them with a delighted glint in her eyes.

Her team mate pulled her towards the space that was to be their base, just opposite from where most of the children were flocking together. It was then that Svasra asked her if she wanted to hang around with them, her voice trimmed with apology. “Are you serious? Of course I’m staying! This is way better than dozing the rest of the day off.” Silarial said loudly, her eyes flushing crimson. “It’s good warm up too!”

She was about to say more when a large chunk of snow splattered all over her shoulder. Portions of the white slush dripped down her neck, under the fur cloak and the cotton blouse. The icy sensation sent goosebumps all over her back and her upper arms. Cringing, she quickly -- and rather pathetically -- shook the snow out from under her clothes, jumping up and down in place as she did so. The children chortled in unison and one of the boys even double over at her reaction. Silarial’s face instantly turned pink. She had to admit, it was indeed a really silly display, a serious blow to the air of maturity she was trying to maintain. Not that roughhousing with kids half her age weren’t childish enough. Her reaction almost made her break out laughing like the rest of her playfellows, but she made an act of furrowing her brows and pursing her lips in mock displeasure. “Hey that was cold! That’s it. Prepare for revenge kiddos.” Silarial turned her head to Svasra and winked at her conspiratorially.

“You talk too much, miss. This is a snowfight!” One of the boys exclaimed. “Yeah! We don’t use our mouth to throw the snow at each other.” Another soon joined in, and the rest of them threw in what they thought. While they were busy stammering about how she was talking too much, Silarial bent over to the ground and scooped up a rather hefty-sized snowball. With one quick swipe of her hand, she sent the ball straight at the currently talking kid’s face, a boy who seemed to be the oldest among them.

A lucky shot! Silarial kept her face straight and impassive, one corner of her mouth minutely twitching as she kept the laughter in. Yes, they didn’t seem to notice the thrill in her eyes even as she did a victory dance inside her mind. Already picking up her next snowball, she shouted a battle cry. “You talk too much, boy. THIS. IS. WAAAAAAR!” And she followed it with a lunge of her mushy weapon at the group of children who scattered away from the sudden attack, the snowball hitting one of the slower in running away.

by **Svasra** on February 15th, 2013, 1:56 am

"Are you serious? Of course I’m staying! This is way better than dozing the rest of the day off." Silarial's eyes were bright as they stared at the woman, and Svasra couldn't help but grin at her companion. Before she could open her mouth to say more though, Silarial was up and hopping from side-to-side as melted water ran down her back. Unsuccessfully stifling a snort, Svasra tried to cover it with a mild cough as she noticed Silarial turning a delicate shade of pink. Soon though, Silarial had broken into laughter as well, quick to call for revenge on the children.

While the taunting came quickly, the two Vantha woman seemed to be in the same of mind on how to reply. Silarial bent down, and Svasra followed, both of them rising with loaded snowballs and picking a target. It was lucky that they were separate as the packed snow flew gracefully through the crisp air.

Silarial's landed perfectly, much to the displeasure of the boy she had marked. The other hit one the supporters, landing on their shoulder to splatter against coat and cheek. Protests erupted, through they were drowned out by Silarial's battle cry, "THIS. IS. WAAAAAAR!"

The children scattered, though Svasra was quick to crouched down and toss another one into the fleeing group, though it missed quite horribly to land midst their trampling feet. Ducking behind their walls, and fortifying them with the surprising energy of youth, Svasra watched the group of children disappear in a matter of heartbeats. Lowering herself behind their own little protective wall, she turned to her female friend. "We need to come up with a good strategy, since we're only two," she whispered. Svasra paused for a minute, and listened, trying to hear for the crunch of snow in case the kids wanted to try an ambush. Hearing nothing though, she continued, "We could either just run out and start throwing them like no tomorrow, which would be the most fun." Pausing again, Svasra took the moment to think. "I can't really think of anything else." The woman just grinned at Silarial, and tensed, ready to spring out as she packed a few snowballs. "Any ideas?"

by **Silarial** on February 22nd, 2013, 6:38 pm

Silarial watched as the children retreated behind their snow forts, reinforcing it by packing more snow on the top of the snow barrier. She ducked behind her and Svasra’s own meager wall and packed more snowballs with her hands when the latter, in a hushed voice, asked her for a good strategy. The dancer waited in silence with her friend, trying to sense if someone was nearby and prepping for a surprise attack. Hearing only the sound of their tense breathing, Svasra continued from where she trailed off, proposing that they could do a swift offensive, risking themselves to a barrage of snowballs from the great disparity between the two teams’ numbers.

Springing her frantic mind into action, she stared at the snowballs in her hands as she scoured her brain for battle strategies. She murmured the ideas out to her teammate as they welled inside her head, “Since we’re way outnumbered, we should have good use of the terrain on our side. First, we should move to higher ground than these kids," Silarial skimmed her eyes over the place and saw the ground behind them quite steeply slopes upwards, “like behind us. We should hold our ground up over there. It would be harder for their snowballs to reach us when we’re on higher ground, and it’d be easier for us to hit them from such a level, too. And we could probably make one giant snowball and let it roll them over.” She grinned mischievously at the sudden mental image of the children running from a huge rolling ball of snow.

“Of course we’d need to distract them first so we’d be able to ran up and build a mini fort up there,” she pointed to the elevation past the slope, "We can lob snowballs at them as we run, just to prevent them from following us. Then we can roll pack snowballs together and roll them around until it’s big enough for battle. Or, we can just skip the gigantic snowball idea altogether. But hey, giant snowballs are cool. What do you think though? I’m ready to ran up to them and throw snow like a crazed woman anytime.” She chortled softly and gamely hefted a snowball in her left hand, her eyes flushed crimson with anticipation.

OOC :

by **Svasra** on March 1st, 2013, 2:02 am

While Silarial contemplated for a moment, Svasra popped her head up. The children were huddled and grinned at her, whispering to each other as their heads bobbed in and out of view. She threw a snowball to keep them off for a while longer, while Silarial began to tell her own ideas. "Since we’re way outnumbered . . ." The woman went on to think of a very smart plan, something Svasra wouldn't have really considered. Silently congratulating the smart Vantha, she listened to the rest, ". . . I’m ready to run up to them and throw snow like a crazed woman anytime."
"Perfect," was Svasra's simple reply. She grinned at her friend and looked over her shoulder to the whispering children. "They'll come here soon, so we better move."

Thinking for a moment, Svasra wound all of Silarial's ideas into one. "Let's start screaming, flailing, and throwing snowballs while running up the hill. There, we can build up the fort and try to hold our own long enough to make a giant snowball." She grinned at her friend and waited for agreement before moving. "Let's run on the count of three."

"One." Svasra tensed, and held two snowballs in her hands, shifting into a crouch as she waited.

"Two." She looked over to Silarial and made sure the woman was ready also.

"Three!" Svasra leaped up and ran out, tossing snowballs at the children. "YAAAAAHHH!!" she yelled, scooping up some more snow to lob at the group not even bothering to put them into proper snowballs. She started to run up the hill, and glanced back to make sure Silarial was following. "HEEYYAAAHH!!" she continued to holler, though it was broken with her laughter. Running uphill was no easy task for an unfit poet, and she found herself more breathing hard than being able to yell at the top of her lungs. She persisted though until the top where she let out a giant whoop in congratulations to herself. "YEA!" Here, Svasra looked to the other Vantha woman and grinned. "Let's build the fort?" she asked as she dropped to her hands and knees to start piling snow.

OOC :

by **Silarial** on March 15th, 2013, 4:45 am

Silarial nodded her head in agreement, knowing the children will start moving in on them any moment soon. She listened to Svasra sum up her ideas into a shorter, clearer sentence one last time, a rascally grin marking the dancer's soft features.

"Yes, flailing's good," she responded in the brief pause in Svasra's words, her voice tinted with an almost childish impatience. At her companion's count, Silarial braced herself into position. She hastily scooped up another ball of snow with her right hand for good measure.

At Svasra's "Three!" Silarial jumped out from the protection of their little wall and ran up the slope, throwing snowballs at the children as she go. "HAHA!!!" she half laughed, half squealed when a snowball missed her by much. When there was no more snow to throw, she would bend down and grab more to lob at the pursuing children. Her feet pushed through the snow, slipping a bit at some points. It was a good thing she was quick to recover, one of the many things she learned in time from being a dancer. She had quite the pair of lungs too. They're strong enough that she afforded to scream "YAAAAAAAH!!" as soon as they reached the top of the hillock, in between her gasps for air.

She broke down into hysterical laughter as she dropped to the ground, glancing at her friend who was also now on her hands and knees. The Vantha grabbed her sides and breathed deeply and, calming down considerably, turned her head to her friend. Svasra asked her if they should start building the fort as planned, to which she replied "Yes, we should. And fast! They'll be going after us soon."

Silarial started gathering snow around them and piled it on top of one another. She patted them down into place hastily, and very much clumsily that her side of the wall turned into a sad excuse for a snow fort. It also did not help that the kids were trying to rush up to them in large numbers, distracting them from building their protective wall. To deter them, she threw the snow that was supposed to be for their fort, hitting the children quite nicely and making a few go back and maybe even regroup.

It was during that moment in which Silarial took the opportunity to glance at Svasra, shaking her head in quiet amusement. "They're so many I still can't quite believe we're going against all of them with just us two."

by **Svasra** on March 22nd, 2013, 11:44 pm

"Yes, we should. And fast! They'll be going after us soon," Silarial replied, already beginning to gather snow and stck it into piles. Svasra began on the other side, working quickly as she rammed snow on the piles, her mittens becoming damp with the snow melting upon them. she saw, and heard, Silarial keep the others at bay while trying to build her side. A look from Svasra showed the multi-tasking wasn't doing too well on the side of their fort. She couldn't help but laugh slightly, and moved over when she'd stacked her side higher enough, having the opportunity to work quickly seeing as Silarial deterred the children from coming too close.
"Let me finish this, you hold them off," Svasra said with a quick grin to her companion, scooting over and bending to pick up some snow and pack it onto the make-shift wall. She took over Silarial's building quickly, reforming the ends and making it less wide and more high.

"They're so many I still can't quite believe we're going against all of them with just us two," Silarial commented with a grin in Svasra's direction. Pausing for long enough to smile back at her friend, Svasra laughed.
"Neither can I, and we're bound to get demolished -- but that's the fun of it, yeah?" Svasra continued the wall, pounding the snow together to is was more sturdy, and joining the portion she made with Silarial's.

Svasra relished this time of just playing and lack of concern, willingly throwing herself into the simplistic mind of a snowball fight. It was so easy to forget how whimsical youth was when the future began to bring their worries and shove them into mind and body. Svasra easily got lost in the panic of finding her own path, where she wanted to go, what she wanted to do. Where could a little storyteller go with life?

Svasra didn't allow such thoughts now, and only packed the snow higher until it was approximately the same height as the one they crouched behind previously. She took Silarial's hand and dragged her behind it, laughing. "Why don't you start on the giant snowball to roll over the kids, and I'll try to keep them off," Svasra said with a quirked grin, looking over the fort's wall to peer at the children below that milled about the small hillside with devious grins. She packed together a couple snowballs and lobbed them into the group, painfully missing, but they squealed and retreated a few feet all the same.

by **Silarial** on March 28th, 2013, 11:53 am

When Svasra offered to finish her side of the wall, she gladly let the woman take over. She figured she was never good at crafting stuff after all, so it would be best to just focus on holding off the children. Silarial laughed as she continually lobbed snowballs at the oncoming kids, lost in the moment of childish glee.

“Demolished? Yes, I think that’s one way to put it. But not without giving a good fight, if I say!” she grinned lopsidedly as she threw more of the snow at the opposing group. It was a good stress-reliever, that’s for sure. Throwing snow. She remembered the time when she would just go and play her day away without any care for the worries that adulthood entailed. Now, however, her mother urged her to go and marry soon for fear that she might become an icemaiden herself. Silarial had did not mind getting the title attached to her name, but she didn’t want to disappoint her mother. Areeyah was so kind to her, and it was hard enough that she was thinking of leaving the woman to search for her father.

She was distracted from her thoughts and the task she had currently immersed herself into, owing to a pull coming from Svasra. She obliged and drew closer to the woman, who asked her to start on building the giant snowball. Silarial giggled, nodding her head excitedly as she exclaimed, “Right away, captain!”

Silarial started packing snow firmly on top of one another, making sure that the damp snow would not loosen by the time they roll it down the children. When it was already about a feet in diameter, she started pushing and rolling it around the snowy ground. She moved the snowball until, gradually, it greatly increased in size. It was already about as high as half her thigh when she gave up shoving the big ball of snow and turned to Svasra.

“I... can’t push… no more... too heavy!” She wheezed, fanning herself languidly as she stared at her companion, then at the children running about, and then back at Svasra. “I hope this is big enough for rolling fun. Let’s do this!” She said determinedly, pulling the sleeve of her blouse up to her shoulders and a playful smirk tugging on her lips.

Closed Snow During Troubled Times (Silarial)