[Open]Winters Play

[Guy Laliberte]

Day 1 of Winter of 510 AV

oocAnyone who wants to watch can go ahead, but be warned I might ask you to participate in the fun

Guy made his way slowly on the cobbled path in the castle walls, closing his cloak tightly around him. It wasn't that cold, really, but he was lost in thought. He walked without seeing where he was going, and was not surprised at all when he arrived in front of the Bazaar. Stopping before he entered the busy place, he dropped his pack to the floor and shrugged off his coat, displaying his costume underneath. The black felt and gold threading glittered in the winter sun streaming in from the bazaar.

Sitting down, Guy starts to twiddle his thumbs, concocting an entertainment session for the day. Of course, he would do his normal juggling routine, and perhaps sing a bit, but he felt that today was not the day to be mundane. He needed to dazzle the populus, leave them wanting more. He sat like this for a few minutes, hand on his bag, wondering what to do. Then, an idea struck him, like an arrow from the heavens. Smiling to himself under his mask, he stands up, and puts the bag closer to the people.

A small crowd had already gathered, waiting for him to start, perhaps, waiting for something to divert their attention from their busy lives and the snapping tongue of the light winter breeze.

"Ladies and gentlemen, citizens and passersby, welcome, welcome, to my stage." Guy spreads his arms wide, indicating the streets of Syliras as his theatre. "Without further ado, let's begin, eh?"

He takes out his juggling balls - oranges had been much too expensive towards the end of fall - and begins to juggle them, two in the air. Feeling their familiar weight on his palms brings back many memories, memories of when his father was still alive. I haven't been using these for a while. He thought, I shouldn't have abandoned them so quickly. Determined to use the bright red juggling balls more often, he adds another ball, juggling three now. Three is no accomplishment, but he couldn't progress too fast, as he was still putting the finishing touches on his grande finale. Adding another, he plays around with their arc, increasing and decreasing its circumfrence and diameter with practiced movements of his hands. He continued to juggle, waiting for some inclination they were getting bored.

[Cecile Xyhura]

Cecile walked around the great Stormhold Castle, clutching her instrument tightly as she searched for a spot where she would be playing for the next couple of days. Unfortunately, the entertainment business dwindled during the winter, as most people preferred to stay inside. She hadn't been making much money as a minstrel recently, but it was one of the only things she could do. She scanned her eyes from one place to another, looking for a suitable place to situate herself.

She walked for a few more minutes before spotting a small crowd in the distance. She dashed toward the group knowing it could only mean one thing. Her suspicions were confirmed when she arrived. She pushed her way through a few citizens to find a man much taller than her wearing a mask. He had short black hair and greenish eyes with a mysterious feel to them. He was juggling several red balls- four to be exact- and he was quite good at it too. She held her violin tightly as she focused and began taking mental notes on his performance, specifically his crowd attraction skills.

[Guy Laliberte]

Some people cried out as they were pushed out of the womans way, but the majority of them were too enthralled with Guys' performance to notice a disturbance. Adding another juggling ball for good measure - now he was juggling five - Guy keeps at the juggling for another minute, knowing he can't continue for much longer, due to both his audiences' attention spans, and his own skills. the movement of his arms warmed him up a bit, but it was still a bit chilly. Nonetheless, the people of Syliras wanted - no, needed, - to be entertained (or so he told himself).

Guy slowed his juggling down a bit, enough for it to become a reflex, automatic, long enough for him to glance at the crowd, looking for the source of the cries that had nearly made him ruin his performance. He saw a short girl with a scarlet ponytail. Her clothing didn't seem appropriate for the winter, and this, coupled with the way she gripped her violin, led Guy to believe that she was a street performer, like he, but she played an instrument instead of performing tricks. Well, we are all good at something. Truth be told, Guy didn't like competition. He would never say so, of course, but too much entertainment tends to make people think they need less of it. Ah well, it's fine as long as the competition is working for me. Guy made a quick decision, and revised his plans for the rest of the show.

Throwing his arms up after some careful calculations, he catches the balls in his sleeves, making them disappear into one of the many pockets his costume has.

"Thank you,thank you," He said, bowing low and allowing a short time for any donations to be made. "As most of you know-" Many of them were familiar faces. "-I can really only do three things well." The crowd murmured a bit. Most of them knew only of his juggling and singing. "One of those things is singing, if I may flatter myself so. But, today, I had a wonderful Idea. You see, I have never actually sung with music. I, of course, in the act of singing, weave music with my words. But I mean-" He pauses for dramatic effect, leaning in close to the crowd. "-real music." When he says this, he beckons the young lady with the violin to come forward.

"And what, may I ask, is your name?"

[Skylar]

Skylar found very little to be amused by this juggler's tricks. Not that he had anything against jugglers specifically, he'd just seen it all before. It was that way with Skylar and most things, in fact. That was part of what added to his eternal ennui. No, the juggling did not amuse him, but the juggler did. Another fine specimen of humanity.

Three, four, five balls. Skylar wondered how many in this crowd were, like him, simply watching hoping to see him fail spectacularly so they could mock him. Surely the Knights would not hold it against them to savagely beat the performer should he failed? That would certainly encourage him. What a novel idea!

Then, it all stopped, and Skylar soon saw why. Ah, that old sin. No doubt this performer had felt the stirrings of lust within his black heart, and was now using this performance as a charade to win this woman's heart.

If there was one thing Skylar dispised, it was procreation.

The masked figure shouted out from the crowd in an androgynous voice: "You tease us sir, what is the third thing?"

[Cecile Xyhura]

The entertainer continued adding balls to his juggling routine for a few minutes, leaving many of his spectators in awe. Soon, though, he began to slow down, and his gaze turned directly toward her. He seemed to looker up and down, as if analyzing her, which made her tense. What was he up to... He then threw the balls in the air in a surprising feat and caught them all in the sleeves of his pockets showing no signs of any effort. The answer to her previous question came soon, as he took a bow. He made a short speech where the topic turned to music. She looked at her surroundings, to the surrounding people. Unless he planned to pull one out of his sleeve, she was the only one there with an instrument. He beckoned her forward.

"And what, may I ask, is your name?" He said with a performer's smile.

She wasn't prepared for this and only managed to meekly get out, "Uh, w-well I'm, er..." with a weak stutter. She paused a moment to get her bearings and took a step forwards. With more confidence said in a stronger voice, "Cecile Xyhura. Nice to meet you." she put out a hand for a handshake, then added, "Why have you called me out?"

Then, a second man began to speak. He had a dissatisfied look about him as he said, "You tease us sir, what is the third thing?"

oocDo you mind if i have Skylar speak after Cecile or do i edit accordingly?

[Guy Laliberte]

"Cecile Xyhura. Nice to meet you." The young girl seemed to have had a bout of shyness, but she managed to regain her courage. Perhaps I need not worry about her after all. "Why have you called me out?"

"Ah, I was wondering if I might use your tal-"

"You tease us sir, what is the third thing?" Guy couldn't quite tell where the voice had come from, but had some suspicions about the man in the mask. What is such a man doing in an audience? Did I not get the letter inviting me to the entertainer's convention? All of this competition was surely not good for business. Ah well, as always, Guy would make do with what he had at his disposal.

"It seems we have a heckler, ladies and gentlemen." He addressed the crowd, turning his attention away from Cecile. "My third talent, good sir, shall be revealed when the time is right. Any-who, Cecile, I was wondering if I might borrow your talents for a few minutes, if not more? I'm assuming, of course, you can play that violin, and you're not lugging it about in order to sell it?" The crowd got a chuckle from this, but waited pensively for the next part of the act.

Guy's mood soured slightly from the strange man in the mask's heckling, but he didn't let it get to him. Come on then, Guy, you've endured worse than that. Cheering up, he awaited the young girls' response.

oocYeah, Skylar, you sort of weirded out the posting order. Cecile, that's a good idea. So now it's Guy, Skylar, Cecile. Agreed?

[Skylar]

"I am... a heckler?" Skylar more asked then said. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant. It certainly wasn't a good thing. Skylar was used to performers engaging with the audience in a different way than this man did. It was a cultural difference, he assumed. Or rather, a generational difference.

Deciding this was perhaps not the best way to go about this, he decided to take a different tactic. Clearly this performer had a different idea in mind, and although they warned Skylar about women scorned, that was nothing compared to a street performer scorned.

A few of the crowd was shouting that they wanted to hear the violinist play, and Skylar joined along with their shouts: "Let's hear it then!"

A little music would soothe his savage soul, anyway.

[Cecile Xyhura]

The entertainer seemed slightly disturbed by the masked one's words, but it didn't stop him from pressing her on about playing the violin. She thought about it for a moment. He's quite good, so this lot probably expects a top notch musician or something to be playing for him. She tried to find a way out of it until some of the crowd began urging her on to play. Eventually even the so-called "heckler" joined in shouting, "Let's hear it then!" It seemed she had no choice.

She let out a great sigh and finally lifted the instrument to her collar bone. She shuffled through her thoughts at what to play and, after a brief pause decided to, although not her specialty, play an up-beat tune. Nobody looking for fun and entertainment wanted to listen to one of her sad melodies. Once in position she looked to the juggler, awaiting a cue to start.

[Guy Laliberte]

oocOh, sorry, did you want it Guy, Cecile, Skylar? I'm terrible at these sorts of things.

Cecile took her position with the violin, and Guy was glad his offer was not turned down. He hated to make last second adjustments. Last minute adjustments, however, were a different story altogether.

The audience was beginning to grow impatient, their overall stance telling Guy that some of them were about ready to walk away, and get on with their day. We can't have that, now, can we?

Nodding once to Cecile, indicating his readiness and donning that masked smile that came with - well - the mask, Guy wagged his finger up and down at a moderate andante pace. Nodding twice, he indicated that she begin playing.

"This song has been in my family for many a generation." He began. "It tells an age old story of a man travelling for the thrill of travel, of adventuring for the sake of adventure. I hope you like it."

"There once was a man from Lisnar
Who wanted to travel quite far.
So he hopped on a horse
and plotted his course
hoping to be on a par." Concluding this first stanza, he took a breath and racked his brain trying to remember the rest of the limerick. He sung a few more stanzas before he began to falter.

"This man made his way to Sun Berth
and found himself feeling much mirth,
At a man who did fall
and was as wide as was tall,
and took pleasure at sporting his girth." Guy improvised about half of the last stanza, his childhood memories of his father singing this very song to him failing at last. He was pleased with the way his words weaved in with his fathers, though - who knew, those might have even been the correct lyrics.

Ending the song with a flourish and bow, Guy smiled as he heard the chinking of Miza on Miza. He made a mental note to give some payment to Cecile - keeping on good terms with people tended to be a good investment.

[Skylar]

Skylar began to clap. Unlike many of the crowd, he didn't reach into his money pouch for a few Mizas of appreciation to these brave souls, but with his stoic expression, who could say what he was thinking? Skylar wasn't sure if the show was over or not, but he pushed through the crowd to meet the performers nonetheless.

"Quite the song." Skylar said, his mask preventing his expression from being read. While his voice didn't seem to possess even an ounce of hostility, there was no friendliness in his words either. "To show my appreciation for letting me watch your show, you must let me buy the two of you dinner afterward at some local eatery. I won't take no for an answer!"

That time there was the barest hint of kindness in his words, but neither of the performers would be able to shake the utterly alien and different feeling that emanated from Skylar from his voice to his every action. He was a different sort of man, from a different time.

With that, Skylar bowed low, his inscrutable eyes never failing to stare at one or the others own. Skylar himself had not yet decided where the evening would end up, but there could be no harm in trading words with these minstrels.