Completed [The Amphitheater] Riverfall Acting (Now With Water)

[Lyn'nice]

Lyn'nice nodded to Alia, "I love to watch. But you need to fill me in, what is the play all about and what's gotten you throwing fireballs?" Lyn'nice moved where she was sitting to give Alia plenty of room to preform her role, carefully carrying Natsu along with her. "Just giving you some extra room. You'll have to tell me the date of the full play. I'd love to see it and bring some friends. I hope it's not raining the day of the play, otherwise your fireballs might fizzle out." Lyn'nice smiled happily to Alia. "I went to the Labor Office an awfully long time ago, Netsu. So it is possible that those Pycons moved on to new places. Do you need a place to stay until the flooding goes down? I live at The Sanctuary and have a fairly decent sized room, although I do keep plenty of herbs... So it might be more of a small forest to you in some spots. But it's warm and dry and I doubt anyone would notice if I brought you with." She said continuing to pet the Pycon. It was strangely calming, not just petting Natsu although that was plenty calming on it's own, but watching a performance in the rain. It made the Konti happy. She was happy she came to Riverfall at times like this, despite some of the things that had happened. She gave a happy contented sigh.

[Alia Beaudouin]

"I love to watch. But you need to fill me in, what is the play all about and what's gotten you throwing fireballs?"
Alia smiled softly, if Lyn’nice had heard her act well enough to hear her casting fireballs, she hadn’t been exaggerating when she had said Alia had good volume. As Lyn’nice, carrying Natsu, backed up, Alia began explaining, talking in a faster than usual voice in order to quickly get to the monologue.

”In short, it’s a dramatic play about... Well… Great job, Alia, agree to explain a play you can’t figure out how to explain. ”...It’s hard to explain. I’ll start with my character, though. Her name is Islini, and in this scene she walks in on her husband with another woman…”

Pausing for a moment to think over how she would paraphrase the complicated plot, Alia thought about how silly she sounded. Looking over the monologue, she reminded herself of the story.

”In reality, it’s all a misunderstanding, but I assume you know how plays are. Extremely dramatic, and as luck may have it, Islini is a reminancer. She plays around with magic, attempting to punish her husband for the deed he did not commit, and ends up burning the house down.”

Smiling softly, Alia shrugged, ”That’s where the whole cursing-people-with-eternal-fire part comes in.” Shifting her eyes to the script, Alia realized how strange that must have sounded from afar. In a performance, people expected this sort of thing, but to hear a stranger cursing someone into eternal fire? Alia assumed that wouldn’t go over well.

”It’s the first scene in which my character truly participates in- She doesn’t speak before this part- and it’s also the scene she dies in. A bit ironic, isn’t it?” Realizing she had been rambling for over a chime, Alia cleared her throat and got back to the play.
”Anyways, I guess I’ll start now. I’ll begin where I left off, if that’s alright. Repeating the lines would make it a bit dull.”

Clearing her throat again, Alia began, first speaking as the narrator, then beginning the actual lines, spoken by Islini’s husband, as by now Islini is already dead.

”In Islini’s haste, she forgot the danger of how demanding of a master magic is. Her anger drove her fury, and her fury drove her magic. And as any good reminancer knows, fury is a harsh mistress.”

This part in the act would be where ‘Special Effects’ came into play, fake fire, smoke, flames, the whole deal. The crew would make it blatantly obvious what was happening- Islini had burnt her own house down out of anger. The next few lines were of Islini’s husband, who would emerge from the fire without either of the women still trapped inside. He reports on how tragic and horrible the catastrophe is, finally saying his famed line;

”The eyes are easily tricked by such frivolous fantasies bent by the mind, but the heart is not so easily broken. We have fallen upon spikes without luck, my wife and I, she has a broken mind, and I have a broken heart.”

In Alia’s opinion, it was all very dramatic and unneeded, but the act was always a crowd pleaser. Hopefully, it would please the small crowd that Alia had drawn, to which she bowed as she finished the last line. Slipping the script back into it’s waterproof home, Alia shuffled back over to her newfound acquaintances, eagerly waiting for their feedback.

[Natsu Nendo]

Natsu nodded along as Alia explained the scenes and meanings of said scenes, himself not much caring for backstory as much as the acting and action itself. Natsu piped in with Lyn'nice as she spoke of bringing friends "I'm sure I know a few people who would love to see" a feeling of calm and relaxation filled the area as the rain slowed, but the droplets still fell from the sky, sending ripples through the water almost in time with the words spoken by the actress. The Pycon's tail swished back and forth and he giggled at the silly lines, at the same time staying intently focused on every movement, every purposefully executed step and powerfully delivered line. By the end of the short scene, Natsu wanted to cheer, and contented himself with a very quiet clapping, though the water in the area carried the noise onto the stage. The petting had slipped to the back of his mind, though he knew it was happening and he still felt suprisingly peaceful, he was able to speak to Aria qbout her performance "the lines were well said, the movements of course are hard without others, but apart from that it will be a beautiful piece... although violently beautiful" he chuckled, giving another round of clapping. He grinned, finally ducking away from the gentle petting hand of Lyn'nice and scampering up onto her shoulder to hear what she had to say about the private performance.

[Lyn'nice]

Lyn'nice tried to hold a straight face to look as she was unimpressed, but once she made eye contact with Alia she broke into a smirk, the a grin, to smiling and laughing. She clapped happily "Sorry for the frown, was just trying to fool with you! You did great! This play sounds like something to see. I'm sorry you died though... You were a nice person. Even if I just met you today." Lyn'nice nodded trying to seem solemn, but a grin kept finding it's way to her face. "Who are your co-actors?" The Konti was in great spirits, making jokes here and there as Natsu moved about her shoulders. He was a nice little guy. He wasn't an animal nor an object enchanted. By a tiny person who just happen to look like a winged squirrel, and she was fine with that. She had met so many different races and so many unique people. A small clay man who looked like he did, didn't bother her at all. In fact it made life that much more interesting. "Natsu, you eat clay don't you? What's it taste like?" A random question, but she was curious.

[Alia Beaudouin]

Surprisingly, they had liked it.
The short act Alia had put on- The audience of two had apparently seemed to like it. Natsu, especially. "the lines were well said, the movements of course are hard without others, but apart from that it will be a beautiful piece... although violently beautiful"

Smiling softly at his praise, she thanked him. She was surprised how much he had liked it, going so far as to call it beautiful. She imagined performing it six days later, on the day of the play, and having the act being ever so much more impressive. The lines were beautiful, yes, but they weren’t hers. There were two other actors that would be reading them, as Alia’s part, Islini, would already be dead by the time the lines were said.

Turning her attention to Lyn’nice, Alia realized that the white-haired woman wasn’t smiling. Had she not liked it? Suddenly, her composure morphed into something else. She smiled, and actually began clapping. Relieved that she had liked it, Alia smiled and happily answered her questions.
”Yeah, I seem to die a lot in these plays… The stage master seems to enjoy watching me die horribly in some way or another. I guess it’s kind of a compliment; It means I can act dead well, at least.”

Thinking for a moment about Lyn’s second question, Alia formed a list of names in her mind. She knew a lot of the actors well, though some of them were a bit more reclusive, often playing background parts. She sometimes wondered why those people had chosen acting as a profession in the first place if they were just going to idle in the background for the entire time. One had to at least try for the spotlight, even if it meant taking a few risks, or what was the point being onstage at all?

”It’s kind of half-and-half with who I know from work. I’m either best friends with them, or don’t even know their name.” Pausing to sit down next to Lyn’nice and Natsu, Alia smiled. ”Luckily, a lot of people are the former. Most of the actors are better than me, though. In comparison, I’m rather new to the business, I’ve only been doing this for a few seasons.

Realizing she was delving from the topic, Alia got to the point. ”Anyways, one of my co-workers and really, best friends is Jorin. He’s been doing this for really only seasons longer than me, yet he seems quite advanced in his work… There’s also Jenna and Grams, who are, in my opinion, two of the best we have…” Alia was prepared to continue, but then again, it didn’t seem like Lyn’nice would really be that interested in who she worked with. Luckily, Lyn soon turned the attention to Natsu, asking him about his clay eating habits.

Alia was a bit confused about the whole clay-eating thing, but she assumed it was just part of being a pycon, if that’s what Natsu was. Intrigued, Alia followed Lyn’s suit, ”You eat clay, Natsu? Interesting… What would happen if you ate normal food, if you even can?” As she stared at the tiny clay rodent, Alia realized that Natsu wasn’t what she had originally thought he was. She had begun thinking he was a regular squirrel, but in fact, it seemed he was more of a mouse that a squirrel. Interestingly, his “fur” looked almost lifelike, it was incredibly detailed, as if an expert carver had etched every strand of Natsu’s fur by hand. Then again, Alia had no idea how pycons were made, so that may well be the case.

A small amount of movement alerted Alia to the fact that even more detail was put into the tiny clay mouse than she had thought. In fact, she once again doubted the prospect that Natsu was a mouse, since it seemed, behind his back, laid two clay wings. How had she not noticed that before? Realizing she would probably freak the tiny creature out with all her staring, Alia quickly withdrew, once again waiting for Natsu to respond.

[Natsu Nendo]

Natsu settled comfortably onto Lyn'nice's shoulder, giggling and chuckling at her jokes, but staying engaged with the words of Aria. With a grin the Pycon noted the excitement with which the actress seemed to be thinking about her future performance, and Natsu admitted to himself he was genuinely intrigued and interested to watch the performance in its entirety. Suddenly the topic switched from co-actors of Aria to his eating habits and the winged mouse tilted his head at the questions asked of him. He had never really stopped to consider what exactly the clay tasted like, only knowing that it was hearty and filling. The Pycon had only partaken of real food once, and had long since forgotten how it had turned out. "I do indeed eat clay... as to its flavor, I really have no clue what I can compare it to. It's rather bland and tasteless" he turned his attention towards Aria, commenting "I'm honestly not sure what would happen if I ate real food... perhaps we could find out sometime" he chuckled at the thought, three beings all gathering to observe eating habits. A bell sounded in the distance, letting the trio know how late it was getting. Time seemed to pass faster when in the company of good companions, it seemed, and Natsu felt suddenly very cared for. These people he barely knew, they made him feel so at ease... It was around that time that the clay creature noticed the gills which Lyn'nice had "pardon me for asking, but you are a Konti, are you not?"

[Lyn'nice]

Lyn'nice giggled on the topic of clay, "Tell me you at least sculpt something out of it before eating it. Ohh! That sounds fun! You should let me sculpt little clay meals for you Nastu!" "Nng? Oh yeah... Yes I am a Konti. Straight from Mura, home of the fish-ladies. But, I'm sure you noticed I'm much more... boisterous than most Konti. Didn't really feel at home in Mura, so I came here, became a Nakivak and my Talvas up and left me." She sighed. "But Kavala who owns the Sanctuary gave me a job and a place to stay. So I live there now, it's nice with the animals and huge garden. That's what I do tend the garden and watch the children of the Sanctuary plus do a little healing on the side..." She held up her arm to show off the healing gnosis, swirls running up her arm. "Although two are Kelvic and don't really need my watching as far as the kids go.. Kavala, she gave me a big room right next door to the baths. But, like I said earlier Natsu if you need a dry place to stay until this flood is over... I have plenty of room. Same goes to you Alia, though I doubt the water will sweep you away."

[Alia Beaudouin]

It seemed time had crawled on quite quickly when Alia wasn't looking.
Her usual practice time only lasted a bell, but it seemed she had been here longer, almost a bell and a half now. Sure, she had practiced for most of the time, but for at least fifteen chimes after her practice time had ended she had been taking to Natsu and Lyn'nice. They were interesting people, the Pycon and, from what Lyn'nice had said, the Konti.

Alia had learned a lot that day, Pycons eat clay, the Konti were apparently related to fish, and small clay squirrels couldn’t swim. All very useful information she couldn’t imagine learning anywhere else. Vowing to herself that she would learn more about Mizahar’s many, many different races, Alia quietly listened to Natsu and Lyn’s conversation. They seemed to be discussing carving clay into tiny pieces of food. Alia laughed softly at that, imagining Natsu chowing down on a tiny clay sandwich. Or, given his form, maybe an acorn.

Alia couldn’t imagine eating nothing but clay, as, from Natsu’s description, it didn’t taste too good. Even for a pycon. A sudden thought occurred to Alia as she thought over the process of eating clay. If Pycons were made of clay, and they ate nothing but clay… Could they eat each other, in theory?
Alia laughed at how disgusting her thoughts were before immediately quieting herself, realizing that Natsu and Lyn’nice probably had no idea what she was laughing about.

She hoped she hadn’t interrupted them, though in a way she hoped the topic would change. Though the extended conversation about eating clay was certainly interesting, Alia really didn’t understand it. Luckily, it seemed the attention had now turned to Lyn’nice, as she was talking about Mura now, or so it seemed.

Alia wondered where this Mura was, and why it had such a close connection to the Konti. Was it like Wind Reach, except for the Konti? It certainly seemed so, as Lyn had referred to the place as ‘Home of the fish-ladies’, and Kontis certainly had some fishy characteristics. It seemed their similarity to each other was more vast than simply scales and gills. From what Lyn’nice had said about not fitting in because she was more outspoken, it seemed there was a set Konti template. Anything outside of the box didn’t fit, and therefor couldn’t stay.

The more she thought about it, the more Lyn’nice reminded Alia of herself. If they looked past the obvious differences, starting with race, of course, their experiences were the same. After several more ticks of thinking, Alia decided to enter the conversation.
”I’m sorry if I’m interrupting, and if this is a sensitive topic, but, Lyn, you said you left Mura because you didn’t fit in?”

How was she going to word this? Wow, that’s a coincidence, because basically the exact same thing happened to me, except with Wind Reach?

”Because… Well, kind of the same thing happened to me. I hope you don’t mind me going all here’s-my-life-story on you, but you reminded me of myself a lot, Lyn’nice.” Pausing for a breath, Alia continued. ”The same thing happened to me, I used to live in Wind Reach, home of the eagle riders…” In a way, Alia mimicked Lyn’nice’s story, replacing “Home of the fish ladies” with “Home of the eagle riders”.
”...But, like you, I didn’t fit in. I had no skill whatsoever in glassblowing, couldn’t shoot a bow to save my life, and had an… Unfortunate incident with an eagle…”

”Basically, in all truth, I’m an Inarta afraid of birds. So yeah, I didn’t fit in back in Wind Reach, so I moved to Riverfall. Some more stuff happened, and now I’m here. End of unneeded, unasked-for life story.”

Alia smiled at her last remark, though there was a bit of truth in it. Luckily, the pair of new friends Alia had made didn’t seem to mind, as Lyn’nice continued with her story. She ended with inviting Natsu to her house, which sparked an idea in Alia’s mind.
”Hey, Natsu, you mentioned earlier you wanted to come to the performance of this script?” Pausing, Alia thought about what she was saying before continuing. ”The show for this script is on the 35th, if you’d like to come. This goes for you too, Lyn’nice. I’d love for you guys to come.”

[Natsu Nendo]

Natsu smiled over at Alia, tilting his head at her sudden laughter and chuckling himself, though he did not know what amused her so. Turning back to Lyn'nice, he nodded as she spoke of carving him little meals from clay "I can't see a reason to refuse... it could be quite fun!" The Pycon said with a grin, his tail swishing back and forth rhythmically behind him. As he heard the stories of Alia and Lyn'nice, he felt a certain connection to them both. He piped up with his gentle voice, saying "well, I think we all seem to have something in common. The Pyve which my family settled down in was just outside of Riverfall... I didn't feel like I fit in, as my shapeshifting was only so-so, and my fighting skills not even that. I left at a very young age and roamed around a little, just wanting to feel needed. Now I have nowhere to go back to... but I have friends in this city I never could have imagined. Konti, Inarta, Vantha, and so many more. This place has become my home, and I don't think I'll ever really want to leave" he finished with a smile as his sculpted wings fluttered behind him. "As to the offer of housing, I would love to stay for the night if you'll have me" Natsu spoke to the Konti, giving a little bow of thanks as he did so, before turning back to Aria "and I would be honored to see your show, though I may jeed a close seat to be able to see" he chuckled softly and gestured to the front row of currently submerged seating "and I can only hope they'll be dry" Though the mouse-like sculpture wished this day could go on forever, he knew the others probably had things to do, and he grinned at the prospect of seeing a show withthese people he now referred to fondly as friends.

[Lyn'nice]

"So somehow all the misfits of Mizahar meet in Riverfall... I guess, pardon the phrase Alia, but birds of a feather flock together. Konti are expected to be solemn because of our second sight. Some see liars, others can tell if you've killed someone, but me... I read dirt. I read the dirt and find what's wrong with it or what will grow well there. The only tie I have to the great Seers of Mura is tea leaf reading. I can do that, but that's plant related so of course I can do that. My Talvas, before her left told me he believed that the gods hid my talents in plain sight." She lifted her bangs revealing a odd formation of scales that to most looked like half of a peony bloom. Lyn'nice turned to Natsu, "Wait you change form too? What can't you do? If the seats aren't dry you can have my shoulder and I'll sit in the front row, as I'm pretty happy in water." She smiled, "That's why I was out today. Enjoying the rain. So it's settled we come see the show on the 35th and tonight I'll host you, Natsu and bring you back into the city tomorrow as it would be way too long of a walk for you. Alia you're welcome to the Sanc anytime too just say Lyn sent you.