Let's Paint the Town Red!

by **Ireth Telemnar** on April 12th, 2014, 3:49 pm

Spring 45th, 514 A.V.

Woohoo! The Rainbow Riot arrives! Perhaps Nyka's populace was just looking for an excuse, but to celebrate the mid-point of Spring, everyone decided many years ago they'd grab all the dye they could and hurl it at each other. Thus, a Rainbow Riot. Catchy, innit? Citizens are encouraged to grab a fistful of powder, a paint-soaked sponge, a bucket... Really anything that'll stain someone fuchsia, and have a go at their neighbors. "Quarter Loyalty" blue (Uphis! Yeah!), red (Whoo, Xannos!), yellow (Laat power!)and green (Skerr is sexy!) are available for those who want to get their turf war on.

The apparent battle began as soon as the sun rose. And the building that her apartment was in seemed to be right in the middle of an apparent battle. Ireth had only been given a vague description the day before when she'd been in Mirilind's yesterday, but she was under firm and strict instructions from Tynybi to get back to the clothing shop as early as possible today. It was shouting that woke the busker the morning of the festival. The weather was warming up, but Ire shivered in her nightclothes as she made her way to her window. The child within her woke soon after she did, alerting it's mother with a few stiff kicks to her ribs. Ireth grunted through the pain, gritting her teeth. Only one more season until the child was due, but some days the busker wished it were sooner.

Flinging open her window's shutters, Ireth let in the brilliant Spring sunshine and the shouts of the people down in the streets of Nyka. At first, she was certain the sight she saw wasn't real. Not two bells after the sunrise, and the street looked totally different than it had the evening before. Astoundingly bright splashes of color dotted the walls of the buildings of the Southern Quarter. And there were people, so many people! More than Ireth had ever seen in the streets before, all moshing together and taking part in the festivities.

They were throwing paint and pigments at each other. That's what the Rainbow Riot was, a day to pelt your fellow citizens with all the colors of the rainbow. Or, if you were more competitive, you went after the denizens of other Quarters with your designated color. From her vantage point above the crowd, Ireth could make out a prowling pack of monks hunting the monks of the other quarters, looking more ridiculous than menacing as they wielded fistfuls of vivid green pigment. Ire assumed that the budding green was the color of Skerr of the Bountiful Wheat, the demigod of Southern Quarter.

The busker didn't leave her room as quickly as she would have liked to, it took her a little bit to get dressed and clean up without straining herself. Simply another side affect of being pregnant, she supposed. It made her slow down. Though she'd agree, that wasn't always a bad thing. It gave her time to ponder the world around her, like the fact that she really needed to do her laundry. She folded some of the dirty clothes and stacked them on the nightstand by her bed before leaving her bedroom. This apartment was taking some getting used to, but it was only her sixth day inhabiting it. It would take time.

And before she managed to get into the kitchen to find something to eat, the busker had to hurry back to the chamberpot in her room, upchucking everything that she'd eaten the night before. Tears streamed from her eyes, turning them red, until she heaved dry and nothing came up. She wiped her mouth with a fold of her nightgown, weak.

It took her a moment or two of inhaling the cool air to calm the churning within her. Ireth knew it was nothing but the baby, but it was still painful. Still, she kept her thoughts of the child hopeful, knowing that the physical pain would come to an end in about a season. Just one more season, we'll make it.

* * * * *

It was nearly four bells past sunrise when the busker finally made her way to the front door of the housing complex. She was dressed simply, knowing that without a doubt, she was going to return looking like a child that had gotten a hold of a harvest of berries.

by **Toan Onox** on April 23rd, 2014, 12:01 am

Toan had definitely found amusement at the early start that rose today, for his reason with being out and about in the town was the same as everyone else. After the starting meal for the day he was provided with three things to make his day fun, courtesy of the owner at the Safe Haven Hostel, and those three things were the same thing as the very others that decorated and littered the streets. Nyka was under attack with flying colors today as many or the locals were decorated with trendy mixtures of paint and dust, citizen, monk, and foreigner alike all carried their little batch of color to decorate the walls, streets, the city, and yes each other with it as they please.

So where did Toan go first? Why he went to the place he knew to be Ireth's, or the humble abode she lived within now that she had a place of her own. He did it out of curiosity as to what she would being doing, yet didn't bother to knock on the door as he allowed his inner child to indulge in the element of surprise. Except he waited quite long enough for her at least, a bell's worth if he wanted to really count it it out. During that time he waited he'd been kept well occupied though, occupied with both sponge and brush while he and a bunch of kids painted a mural on the wall. Much of it was childish things like flowers and animals and the like, Toan himself even tried to paint some trees as a forest. Once the door seemed to open and Ireth stepped outside, she hadn't noticed the small group off hand as Toan placed a colorful finger before his mouth to quiet the kids around him.

The element of surprise. First was Toan as he took a pinch of green chalky powder and threw some in the air towards the woman, a laugh to follow as the children followed along upon his word. "Surprise! He signaled as a flurry of colors lunged towards the girl, everyone in a cheery laugh as the kids went into another all out color war between theirselves. When Ireth would look upon Toan it would appear as though he definitely already had an early start, colors of red, yellow, blue, and green adorned his what used to be white shirt and brown trousers, as well as his hair and patches of skin. Mainly the hands, but several spots of his face were blotched with color as well.