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Post by The Jenn on Mar 17, 2009 5:26:29 GMT -5
Small paws worked their way over the taut surface of a hand drum, the Hisstor chipmunk sitting inside the poorly lit inn's common room and playing for tips. The owner had been good enough to give him a little bit of food for the evening in exchange for a hand-made bracelet, which was kind, all things considered. Now he just played, ignoring the people around him and enjoying the music. They ate and smoked and drank, and he played, with the occasional sound of a lone coin hitting the bowl in front of him. When he kept his eyes closed and ignored everyone, they saw nothing but a young Hisstor chipmunk with a drum, an odd enough sight to attract attention but not so frightening as to leave. It was a lean month. He'd left the Wastes after his second visit only a few weeks ago and had wandered through Kahmden, selling only a few of his crafts and generally doing odd jobs for money. People in the region were too interested in "playing it safe" to employ someone like him for long, though, with how he looked and his nocturnal schedule. He'd determinedly avoided the Midori, as he'd done on his last visit through the Forest, and scooted down into Morganberry. From there, he'd swung back up to the Selkie Lakes, and that was his current location. Not bad, all things considered. It kept him on the move and he had at least one more day to sleep in the stables of the inn before the owner told him he'd have to find different accommodations. He would wander from there and find a new spot, a new dive, a new job. Life was interesting, for all that it remained uncertain. For at least a little while, he was happy to live as a nomad and see what came his way. |
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Post by Indiglow on Mar 29, 2009 23:52:35 GMT -5
A large female canine was sprawled out contentedly in that very common room, eating a dish of something cold and sweet. Her silky-furred tail unconsciously wagged in rhythm to the music of the chipmunk's drums, just barely missing the plates and cups of some other customers. It had been a long day - harvesting seaweed, trading with merchants under her father's carefully watchful eye - and Prescia welcomed this chance to relax and fill her belly. And the atmosphere was always so nice here. Music in particular had always affected her somehow, sent the rhythm straight down into her long lanky legs, and if she hadn't been so eager for a relaxing evening she'd have found some appropriate spot to dance to the rhythm of those drums. In fact, she thought as she licked a bit of cream from her snout, she didn't really hear this type of thing playing in this tavern. The sound was unusual, sort of foreign - certainly foreign enough to pique her interest. She peeked over in the direction of the sounds, and her tail thumped louder. The bone jewelry meant someone from Hisstor! That was certainly strange. She'd encountered foreigners during trade deals, but staying within the Lakes meant that her range was quite limited. He looked absorbed in his work, but she tossed him a coin and watched the little chipmunk play, curious at this outsider who'd wandered in from such a different place. |
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Post by The Jenn on Mar 30, 2009 9:20:21 GMT -5
((Yay, thank you for playing with me! <3 I only recently acquired Fetu, so I'm still working a few kinks out of his muse. Nocturnal little thing. Hee.))
With all of the white-based fur and feathers in the room, Fetu didn't stand out quite as glaringly as he did in, say, Torquehelm or Corvistowne. His markings were different, as well as the shade of his creamy fur, but it wasn't stark enough for people to pick him out of a crowd without even trying. The rhythm of his drum and the oddity of his ornamentation were the only things that might attract attention overlong, and even then, people generally left him well enough alone. He had a feeling it was something between fear for the rumors of his realm and disinterest in approaching a stranger. Both were fine with him.
Just as he finished up one song, he heard the clink of another coin in his small bowl and reflexively opened his eyes to glance down, no longer absorbed in his music. They quickly slitted against the dim but painful light of the bar. Pitch black eyes blinked at the four shining bits he'd collected and he reached down, flipping two over so that he could see the denomination more clearly. Having his eyes open even so briefly hurt, but if he squinted carefully enough then his lashes diffused enough that he could deal.
A tail in motion nearby caught his attention, rhythm even when he was between songs, and he raised his head to see a bright-eyed Selkie canine watching him. Self-consciously, he nodded his head in a quick greeting before lowering his eyes once more to his drum. That was the uncomfortable thing about eye contact. It often gave people the impression that he wanted to talk.
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Post by Indiglow on Apr 2, 2009 11:28:53 GMT -5
((I AM ALIVE NAO. @_@ And no problem! Had to start somewhere after all, and Prescia's the curious sort.))
Prescia's unconsciously leaned forward as the chipmunk finally looked up from his drums. Those pitch-black eyes were a little spooky, and combined with the bone breastplate, the pale fur and bloodlike markings, she had to stifle a shiver that she knew wouldn't be polite. Nonetheless, she smiled a bit watching him. Prescia wasn't big on details, but even she noticed the way he squinted, hard enough to look like wincing, at the coins he pulled from his bowl. There was something harmless and a bit cute about it, as she didn't understand yet just why it was an imposition to the stranger.
She saw an 'in' when they locked eyes for a moment, that slight motion of the head suggesting acknowledgment. They said things about the creatures from the Hisstor Wastes being empty and cold, but in a crowded place like this it could only be interesting to talk to one. Ignoring or maybe just not realizing how quickly he returned to his drums, her smile widened and her tail wagged harder. "Hello! My name is Prescia. You play very well; I've never heard music like that before!"
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Post by The Jenn on Apr 6, 2009 8:18:47 GMT -5
Fetu could feel her eyes continuing to linger on him and it made his skin crawl, sending a little ripple across the surface of his fur. At the same time as it felt comforting to be surrounded by so many people, he preferred to remain a passive participant in the social scene and anyone who paid attention to him directly made him terribly uncomfortable. Staring eyes. He didn’t like staring. Hopefully the canine wouldn’t say anyth-
Never mind. He could hear the wagging of her tail as a rhythmic counterpoint to her words, the sound of enthusiasm an ironic counterpoint to his own beat of several moments ago. His throat felt tight as he looked up again, still squinting against the light of the room. It made him look beady-eyed, but that was better than screaming in pain and it minimized the tiny, leaking tears that formed at the corners of his eyes.
”Hello. Thank you. I learned how to play from a Villa.” Hopefully that would be the end of her curiosity, but he doubted it. Maybe if he mentioned his name, that would be the last ‘answer’ she’d need and he could return to his playing. Or maybe she would take it as a cue for further conversation. He could never tell. ”My name is Fetu.”
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Post by Indiglow on Apr 27, 2009 4:24:54 GMT -5
((School has un-eated me and now it's all 9-5 from here, so hopefully I'm back for good. Thanks so much for being patient, and I'm sorry Prescia's a bit annoying, hope it makes for a good scene anyway.  )) No such luck, of course, as the sweet young Club didn't quite register his discomfort, or at least not enough to realize that it came from her unwelcome presence. Prescia inched closer, not too uncomfortably, but so she didn't have to talk loudly over the crowd of the tavern. She couldn't even quite make out his suit and rank, between the distance between the two Cards and the inn's dim light. "It's a pleasure to meet you," Prescia chirped politely. "A Villa! That's so interesting, I've never met one before. I don't get to see many different kinds of people, unless I'm trading with them. By the way, you wouldn't happen to be interested in some fresh seaweed, would you? We still have plenty for sale." The jump from one subject to the next made sense in her head, if nothing else. 'Never waste an opportunity,' her father had always said, somewhat exploiting his daughter's inclination to chatter people to death and be undeterred by their rudeness. But Prescia is not an entirely insensitive young woman, and she does notice there's an odd hesitation to Fetu, an uncomfortableness that she doesn't quite think to attribute to herself. "Is something wrong? You don't look well." |
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Post by The Jenn on Apr 28, 2009 17:54:38 GMT -5
Fetu determinedly did not flinch backwards as she moved a bit closer to him, seeing the motion through the lashes of his eyes. He was always at a disadvantage around other people and hated that they needed light to see. At least his mother had been another Spade, night vision included, and usually consented to keeping the suite lightless while he was moving around.
Her jump in conversation made him wish that he could look at her expression more closely without risking pain. Damned handicap. It wouldn't have been such a problem outside. "I've never eaten seaweed before. I also don't have money right now." That's why he was playing, at least in part. One dexterous paw smoothed over the skin of his drum, pausing at her next question.
Talkative and probably not much older than he was. He'd never associated much with his peers. "The light's a little bright. I'm fine otherwise." To her, the bar was probably a little dim and poorly lit. To him, it hurt. He would have never been able to play in the common area if it had been 'normally' illuminated. That was why he usually stuck to dives and more 'homey' local pubs. It helped that they usually stayed open later.
((Hee, that's fine. School is consuming my soul at the moment, so no worries at all. Sorry Fetu's so socially disagreeable. xD It's probably for the best that Prescia is pushier without meaning to be. It's actually getting him to talk.))
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))