Just an Illusion (Rana)

by **Aislyn Leavold** on June 20th, 2014, 3:27 am

1st of Summer, 514
Fourteenth Bell

Today was the day things changed.
Once, and for all.
Aislyn had spent twenty years on this world as of that day, twenty years of wasted time, space, and energy. Sure, some of the years had been fun, full of tricks, but she had spent five years hiding from someone who had held a grudge for far too long. She had been hiding for far too long. It was time for something to change, and it was obvious he wasn’t, so Aislyn had.

She would still wear Maya, keeping her blonde, curly locks and bright blue eyes, but she would try other things as well. Maybe even go out as herself, for the first time in many, many years. As far as anyone knew or might know, Aislyn Leavold had disappeared five years ago after murdering the father of Markis Qiu. Accidentally, of course. After that, there had been no Aislyn, only Maya, running out to get food for herself and her mother. Aislyn had been gone for five years, presumed dead by anyone with a brain, but today was the day she returned.

Of course, no one knew that.
Aislyn liked to think of the first as her return, but in all reality, she was much too scared in her own skin to really come back. She was terrified of a man wanted revenge, even if it was near impossible for him to do so. In her mind, though, she had good reason to be scared. It seemed that at least twice a season she saw Markis, arm always covered, maybe even gone. He always wore the same face, one of angered pain and searching. Searching for her.

He still hadn’t given up, even after all these years. That was why she kept Maya, to protect herself from the always lurking danger of recognition. She even had a schedule now. Wake up, become Maya, ‘borrow’ mizas from mother, go get food for the day, refresh her illusion, and then return to her home to do whatever she wished. It was a solid routine, but it became tiresome after a while. That was why, today, she was trying something different. Someone different.

She had spent hours perfecting her look in the mirror, rounding out sharp angles of her face, coloring her skin tone to perfection, making her eyes look lighter, more carefree. Younger.
She had become, what she thought, was her younger self. Her happier self. Today was a special day, so she had put on a special face, much like people put on a special outfit. Her skin was much paler, with much less scars. Her face had less creases, less imperfections, cuts and bruises. Her hair was much shorter and lighter, falling just before her shoulders. And, of course, she was shorter and smaller.

This was the one disguise Aislyn permitted herself to change her size with. It was only for a day, so what did it matter if someone noticed they could feel what didn’t look to be there? She could always interchange her disguises, just by wishing it. An easy fix, even if Markis saw her.

Practically skipping down the street in a childlike manner, much like her disguise, Aislyn weaved around the crowds, knowing she had to pick up the day’s groceries but hoping to confuse a few people on the way there first. Unfortunately, she only achieved in confusing herself as she hopped around the many bustling people in that particular street. It wasn’t as if they knew where they were going, no one ever knew where they were going in this city. Why the rush?

Shrugging, Aislyn turned her course onto an emptier street, one with only a few people walking around. Taking her eyes off where she was walking, the girl- Currently only twelve or thirteen in appearance- ran straight into another passerby.

When she straightened out her mind from the sudden interruption of thought, Lyn took in the sight of the woman. Bright red hair with startling eyes, she wondered if the woman herself took part in the art of illusions. Bowing her head at the woman in much a childlike manner, Aislyn spoke before realizing that her voice didn’t match her appearance, nor did her speech in general.

”Sorry, miss, I was just heading to the…” Where was she going again? The accident had derailed her train of thought, causing her mind to draw a blank at her purpose there. It made her seem even more suspicious, she knew, but all Lyn could do was hope looks were enough to trick the woman. If not, who cares? They would most likely never meet again.
”...I was just going to get some food for my mother and I. I was in a rush, I apologize.”

by **Ranayel Silverleaf** on July 6th, 2014, 6:24 pm

Rana exited the shop she'd entered almost a bell before. Her attempts at finding a new shirt-preferably one with long sleeves this time around-had been in vain. Most shirts sold during the summer were short sleeved, and the few that had long sleeves were often cut off at elbow length. Sighing, the mixed-blooded woman slid out of the clothier's with a tug at her scarf to loosen the knot that held it in place around her arm. As she was in the process of tying it back up around her arm to hide the purple skin that shouted "I'm part-Isur!" to anyone who knew what they were looking at, she turned around a corner.

And smashed right into a small girl, causing Ranayel to lose hold of the silky fabric in her hand.

An inconvenient gust of wind hit at that very moment, picking her scarf up and carrying it down the street with a flutter.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I really have to get that scarf back!" Rana exclaimed, forgetting that she'd full-on smacked into another human being-a little girl of all people! Her arm and its tinted skin slid right out of her mind, most likely accompanying her mother's scarf.

That scarf was Rana's most prized possession.

The curly-haired woman let out a loud curse in the Isur's native tongue, then took off at full speed towards the scarf. Ranayel made no effort to conceal her arm, which was the last thing on her mind at the moment. More important to her was getting the thing that would cover her arm back.

"Wait! Come back!" cried the Silverleaf as she dashed.

Thoughts. - "Common." - "Nari." - "Isurian."

by **Aislyn Leavold** on July 10th, 2014, 10:46 pm

It seemed a scarf was far more popular than Aislyn.
In this case, at least.
Right as Lyn had apologized, the woman had straight-up run away, full speed, chasing after a flimsy piece of fabric it seemed she had dropped. What a way to meet a person, be it they were introduced or not.

Aislyn’s first reaction was to take off running, as she wasn’t exactly the best at social interaction in general, nevermind interaction with complete strangers, but something changed her mind. Something on, or rather part of, the woman’s arm. As the scarf that had so easily escaped capture got away, Aislyn had gotten a good look at the skin the cloth had been hiding.

Aislyn wasn’t stupid, she knew of many things, but sometimes, there was knowledge that was simply out of her reach. Like, for example, why someone’s arm would be such a stark color, purple, of all things. She wasn’t exactly the best with races, nor their features. Lyn had heard of a race of uniquely colored people, Aka-something, but they were colorful all over, not just on one arm or leg. Yes, this new woman, whoever she was, was something Aislyn had never seen before.

Obviously, this called for investigation.

The woman was running down the twisted streets that Ionu provided for it’s people, chasing after a gust of wind that had so inopportunely caught the fabric that had covered her brightly colored arm. Aislyn quickly followed, being careful to sidestep anyone she passed, so they didn’t brush her real arm, or pass through her illusion’s fake hair. Now that she was planning on actually sticking around and talking to someone, care was needed. If the woman thought her a girl, let her believe that. In any case, she was going to get that scarf back.

The piece of cloth seemed to taunt the pair, doing loops and twirls just out of reach. It was extremely frustrating, diving after a scarf only to have it be an arms length away. The wind couldn’t take it forever, but it could hold onto it’s stolen prize for quite some time. Or, at least, until the pair gave up.

It didn’t seem likely that the woman, whoever she may be, would give up any time soon. The scarf obviously held some importance to her, be it through family, a gift, or even if it was just really expensive. She had seemed pretty desperate to get it back. Running through a street at full speed… Even Aislyn was having trouble catching up.

Luckily, the Alvadas’s winds were always subject to change, and change they did. Right as Lyn had caught up to the woman, matching her stride, the wind had changed directions, blowing the scarf right into Lyn’s face. Or, at least, her illusion’s face. In reality, the scarf had hit at about Aislyn’s stomach. She really had gone all out, changing her height so dramatically.

Finally clasping her hands around the ever-illusive scarf, Aislyn had a look at the treasure. It was definitely of high quality, silk, or something much like it. It was also a rainbow of colors, blue, brown, white, the woman had quite the preference for style.

Turning the scarf over in her hands, Aislyn stuck the cloth out towards the flame-haired woman.
”...From all this commotion, I’d assume this is yours.” Taking a look back towards where they had come from, Lyn found that they had indeed run quite far away. If the scarf wasn’t hers, there wasn’t exactly much she could do with it. Sure, she didn’t object to stealing, especially if it had practically flown into her hands, but if the owner stood before her, she was giving it back. ”At least… I’d hope it’s yours.”

by **Ranayel Silverleaf** on July 11th, 2014, 4:46 pm

The Silverleaf woman was very close to cursing Ionu in all the languages she knew. The mischievous patron deity of Alvadas, Rana believed, was responsible for her missing scarf. Though Rana often enjoyed the Master of Illusion's trickery, taking her scarf from her arm was not only irritating, but it was very much frightening. The girl she'd crashed into had most likely already noticed her arm and was probably passing judgement on her strange skin tone as she chased after the scarf!

The thought, which troubled her, caused the red-haired woman to redouble her efforts.

Ranayel wasn't aware that behind her was the girl she'd bumped into earlier, also chasing after her scarf. She wasn't aware that the girl was an illusion projected by a much bigger young woman. She most definitely wasn't aware of any of the woman's past history, much less her name.

All Rana knew was that her scarf was in the air.

Wide brown eyes were focused on the scarf, barely looking anywhere else as the mixed-blooded woman ran through twists and turns of Alvadas. It seemed that Ionu had taken pity on her, for she hadn't crashed into any walls or lamp posts during her frenzied sprint for the scarf.

Of course, the second that thought crossed her mind, she smacked straight into a solid brick wall.

Tumbling immediately down to the ground with a huff, Rana appraised her physical condition. She didn't seem to be hurt, to her relief, but she'd lost sight of her scarf! With a hand on the same wall that she'd just crashed into, the Silverleaf woman pulled herself up and looked around frantically for the flying strip of silk.

Her search was rewarded moments later when she looked around and saw the same girl who'd bumped into her earlier, holding the scarf in her young hands. Gratefully, Rana hurried towards the young girl, right arm tucked behind her back as best as she could manage.

"I can't believe you found it! I...wow. I can't thank you enough. Yeah, it's my scarf-my mother gave it to me. It was a present to her from my father," replied Ranayel, a broad grin plastered on her face. "You said you were going to get food for your mother earlier, right? If you're okay with it, I'd love to repay you-can I come with you to the market? I'll pay for what you buy."

Thoughts. - "Common." - "Nari." - "Isurian."

by **Aislyn Leavold** on July 13th, 2014, 6:14 pm

"You said you were going to get food for your mother earlier, right? If you're okay with it, I'd love to repay you-can I come with you to the market? I'll pay for what you buy."

Did she really mean it?
Paying for Aislyn’s food?
A brief idea of swindling the woman out of her money flashed across her mind, but Aislyn just as quickly swatted it away. She looked like a child, she must act like a child. A child did not steal money from someone that offered to help them. And, in this case, neither did Aislyn.

”Thank you so much for the offer… The scarf… Really, it was no problem.”

Then again, making sure the woman didn’t figure out that Aislyn wasn’t exactly who she seemed to be would be hard. Sure, she could avoid touch, but sooner or later the woman would either bump into her disguised body or just connect the dots about Aislyn not being who she appeared. Then again, it was only for a day. Even if Lyn wanted to befriend the woman, she would have to reveal her lies. And, therefore, admit she was lying.

That was not something Aislyn planned to do any time soon.

Putting on a childlike smile, Lyn drew her notebook out of the basket she had bought specifically for carrying her purchases. In the book lay her shopping list, or what she could claim was one. Really, it was just a journal entry mentioning what she needed to buy. It wasn’t much- Only about twenty gold mizas in price- but it would get Lyn far enough through the season, not to mention it would allow her to learn something she had been wanted to learn for a while; Cooking. She had already found a recipe from one of the vendors last time she had gone shopping, and she had also memorized the instructions for a soup her mother used to make.

Turning to the page where she had the list of ingredients, along with the recipes, Lyn showed the woman her plans, covering up what she didn’t need to know with her hand. The journal was a kind of diary, in a way, so it was only just that Aislyn kept some of the entry private. The total came to nineteen gold, five silver, and nine copper mizas, though Lyn called it twenty gold, to be short.

Once Lyn was sure the woman had gotten a good look at her writings, she slipped the book back into the basket, before continuing on the road to where she believed the market was. Then again, in this city, you could never be truly sure.

Note :

by **Ranayel Silverleaf** on July 16th, 2014, 8:48 pm

Ranayel smiled at the girl, who seemed a bit nervous. Most likely it was because the girl herself was young, while Rana was a strange older woman. "That scarf means a lot to me-it's the least I can do. What's your name, by the way? I'm Rana Silverleaf, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

Turning around, Rana tied the silk scarf around her right arm just as she'd originally wanted to do. Times like these made the mixed-blooded woman grateful that she'd taught herself how to do things with her left hand as well as her right. It took her only a chime to tie the scarf back around her arm, during which time the young girl had extracted a notebook from her bag. She'd opened it to a page with a grocery list written on it. Rana took a closer look at the list.

-Dried Apples (1 lb) = 1 sm
-Dried Cherries (4 oz) = 20 sm
-Dried Green Peas (4 lb) = 8 sm
-Honey (2 pots) = 2 sm
-Eggs (1 dozen) = 1 sm
-Milk (1 gal) = 1 sm
-Butter (1 lb) = 1 sm
-Rice (2 lb) = 10 gm
-Almonds (1 lb) = 3 gm
-Dried Onion (4 oz) = 20 sm
-Mustard Seed (1 oz) = 5 cm
-Garlic (1 oz) = 4 cm
-Thyme (1 oz) = 1 sm
-Mushrooms (1 lb) = 1 gm
Total = 19 gm 5 sm 9 cm

Nodding as she read the list, Rana reached into her own bag and extracted her coin purse. Counting out twenty gold-rimmed gemstones, she pocketed them before putting her coin purse back into her bag.

Rana followed after the girl, hoping that she knew where she was going. It was never easy to tell exactly where the marketplace would be on any given day, but anyone could make a guess.

Thoughts. - "Common." - "Nari." - "Isurian."

by **Aislyn Leavold** on October 18th, 2014, 5:36 pm

Usually, Aislyn had pretty good luck with Alvadas.
Her mother's shop most always appeared next to her home, which was convenient when one building housed two people yet only held one key. It was that way with the bizarre, too… Most of the time.

Not so much today.

Every time Aislyn turned a street, it seemed like she was back in the same place as before. Nothing had changed. After several more turns and the feeling that her companion was getting impatient, Aislyn let out a sigh of frustration. She had sworn the bizarre had been right around the corner right before she had run into this new woman, but no. Somehow, the entire marketplace had disappeared chimes before Aislyn had reached it.

Sometimes, Aislyn felt as if Ionu was constantly laughing at the inhabitants of Alvadas, even those he favoured. Eventually, however, after fifteen long chimes, Aislyn and her new companion finally found their way to the bizaar, where the people of Alvadas rushed around, bustling over this and that, barking over unreasonable prices and, occasionally reasonable ones they refused to pay.

For the first few chimes, Aislyn paced around aimlessly, quickly gaining a sense of guilt for leading the woman around in what could only be described as circles. They made several stops at various stands, to no avail. It was rather hard to find a place that had everything they needed all in one place, though Aislyn swore she would manage. She couldn’t give up now- especially not with this woman offering to pay for her food.

Eventually, the mismatched pair stumbled upon a vendor selling a variety of dried fruit and vegetables, the majority of which Aislyn needed. Sheepishly, she gestured to the stand, still slightly uncomfortable with the idea of someone else paying, though she wasn’t objecting.
”Apples, cherries, and green peas. That’s what we need, right?” The question was rather rhetorical- Aislyn knew the list by heart- but she wanted to spark a conversation with the woman, or at least connect in some way. At the moment, Aislyn felt as if she was being far too distant, especially with someone putting food on her plate.

Turning her attention to the vendor, Aislyn looked over the baskets contained on the table, searching for the items they needed. It turned out the vendor was selling more than just dried fruit- She could also get nuts and mushrooms from the place. All in all, nearly a third of the shopping list was sold in that one place. Rather lucky, really.

Fifteen chimes later, Aislyn and her new companion had found everything she needed. By then, a smile had worked it’s way onto her face. She had adopted, as she often did, the demeanor of the face she was wearing. And with the new demeanor, new ideas pushed their way into Aislyn’s mind.

”I was planning to make a certain recipe with this… I’m sure we have enough for three portions, and I’m not even certain if my mother will show up, so why don’t you come along? It’s all I can do to repay you.”

OOCSo sorry for the incredible wait time; I had this reply all typed up and had THOUGHT I had posted it, when in reality I hadn't.

by **Fable** on December 17th, 2015, 4:39 am

A I S L Y N

a d r o i t . a c c r e t i o n s

e s p i e d . e r u d i t i o n

r e c o m p e n s e . a n d . r e t r i b u t i o n

none
d e t e r m i n a t i v e . d i c t a

Shame that had to end without a true resolution, but I do always enjoy reading what Aislyn gets herself up to. (Also, now I know where the child came from, surprises for me!)

PM to join Just an Illusion (Rana)