Festival Evenings of Alvadas

by **Brendero Marim** on July 16th, 2016, 5:54 pm

12th of Summer 516 AV, Alvadas

Brendero Marim, a young, dark haired boy staggered through the ever-changing streets of Alvadas, wondering what to do with today's evening. The streets were full of pilgrims that come from all around the world, for all Bren knew. And while they provided the much needed economic boom for the city each year, Bren felt uncomfortable around so many people. With his dull clothes, he got often overlooked, pushed into and similiar, not so pleasant things. He sighed as he almost got pushed on the ground and looked around. He heard noises from the Bizarre a few streets away, but he had no intention to go there. Instead, guided by his crunching stomach, he decided to enter the Cubacious Inn, which he noticed right on the other side of the street.

As soon as he entered, Bren noticed that the inn is indeed full, even more than usual. The pastel colours of the room went nicely with the simple furniture and only thing spoiling the sight was the typical smell of full inn, the smell of sweat, beer, smoke and sometimes, some other, questionable substances as well. Nonetheless, Bren made his way to one of the free tables he saw. He nervously tapped his fingers on the table as he looked in the barmaid's direction, but it seemed that she was too busy with the big number of guests in the inn. Therefore, Bren just sighed again and waited.

by **Hanen** on July 30th, 2016, 3:48 am

One of the more questionable smells spoiling the inn's atmosphere began advancing towards Bren. It was a bit of a job, too, what with the tables being so close together, and the owner of the scent being nearly four feet wide. After nearly squashing several patrons the stench managed it, standing directly in front of Bren and assaulting his nose with the stink of cheap cologne.

It was a Jamouran, with creepy yellow eyes and a grotesque smile. He gestured in what he clearly thought was a friendly manner at the seat next to the nondescript boy, and almost knocked over a passing patron with his massive arm.

"I need to avoid someone," he said, like it was possible for someone who looked like him to escape notice. "Mind if I sit?"

by **Brendero Marim** on July 31st, 2016, 12:48 pm

Bren, lost in his thoughts, was suddenly interrupted in his waiting. He looked up and saw a... well, it was a Jamouran, for sure. Bren just hasn't seen any Jamourans in quite some time, so he forgot how enormous they are - and how bad they smell. Nonetheless, Bren remembered that he was always supposed to be polite, so he just smiled and gestured at the chair in front of him.

"But of course, take a seat," Bren answered, breathing with his mouth instead. He didn't exactly know if that made the smell better or worse. "Then again, if your goal is to get lost, the streets of Alvadas are more suitable for it." He continued truthfully. The street changed with every moment, and getting lost not only from your pursuers, but in your sense of direction as well is more than easy enough, mainly during these strange times. Bren spread his arm to shake hands with the Jamouran, hoping internally that he won't crush Bren's hand.

"My name is Brendero, stranger. And what is yours?" he introduced himself, still smiling.

by **Hanen** on July 31st, 2016, 7:27 pm

“Hanen,” Hanen drawled. He pressed three fingers roughly around the boy’s palm and lowered himself with a wince into the seat. The people who designed the chairs obviously did not have people of his size in mind. “As for the streets—”

If it was possible for a jet-black Jamoura to turn green, he did. His whole life, his instinct when being followed was to stay very still and hide. Turned out, that didn’t work very well in the city, yet when he tried an ambling run the buildings would change positions when he wasn't looking, making it seem like he was running in circles.

It was disorienting, and made him sick to his stomach. Sick enough to want a drink. And what was the likelihood of the one after him stopping to do the same? “This is suitable enough,” he boomed.

He leveled a look at the barmaid and curled his torn upper lip back slightly, which made her scurry over quick enough to take their orders. With his first glass of beer downed and the sense of dread just beginning to abate, he turned his attention back to Brendero.
“So…Brendero. You look young. What’s your story?”

by **Brendero Marim** on August 3rd, 2016, 4:54 pm

Bren fought off a laugh when the Jamouran struggled with his seat. There were not many Jamourans inside Alvadas, and the citizens themselves were very hostile at outsiders. Quite a paradox, as the waves upon waves of pilgrims that swarm the city each summer only help its economy, not otherwise.

"Pleasure to meet you, Hanen," said Bren, then drank ale from a mug the barmaid finally brought him after some iniciative from his new companion. I am indeed young. My father died not so long ago and I'm struggling with life since then. Nothing much besides that. No adventures, no adrenaline, nothing... and what about you? What is your story? He asked and made a disgusted face. He never liked the taste of ale. Still, he drank it from time to time.

by **Hanen** on August 5th, 2016, 2:49 am

Hanen chuckled darkly at Brendero’s words. A dead father? That’d be something. “From the sounds of it, we might both have been happier with the other man’s problems,” he noted, without elaboration.

He decided then, abruptly, that he liked the brown haired boy sitting with him. Something about the polite demeanor, the way he said “adventures” caught and held him, with a sincere starkness few sights in the City of Illusions managed. It was with this in mind that he answered Brendero’s question.

“Here’s my story. There’s a type of spider I know that disguises itself among the corpses in its web. The fly comes by—” He held up a finger to demonstrate the path of the fly, halting it a few feet from Brendero’s face. “—and sees nothing. A pile of bodies. But the spider is there, flush against the carcasses, and the moment a curious fly draws close—snap!” He snapped his fingers, now inches from Brendero’s nose, and drew his hand away. “Just one more decoration. Now an incurious fly, he’s safe. The destruction of his kind doesn’t hold his attention long enough to get caught. But the incurious fly never gets a chance to see the spider. The moment before the snap is a sight, and in that moment even a fly has a sporting chance of making it out alive.”

Hanen leaned back in his seat, which came perilously close to falling apart beneath him. “In the end, I’m just another curious fly. How curious would you say you are?”

by **Kaleidoscope** on August 11th, 2016, 9:41 am

Sitting quietly at a table nearby, a young woman with a mop of strawberry coloured hair pricked her ears, and leaned closer so as to listen in on their conversation. Talk of adventures, and flies and spiders was everything the young woman wanted to hear, the giant ape spoke in riddles and the brown haired man spoke wistfully of adventures...

When she could take it no longer, she stood up abruptly, her chair clattering as she dragged it across to their table. With a voice like a mountain spring, she said, "And would you mind if I joined ye's too?" Upon closer inspection of the girl, her eyes shone like spring water too, light, bright blue in a pale, freckled face. She was dressed in plain clothes too, much like Brendero, and in shades of brown, red and hessian. She smiled, a bubbling grin of a smile, and plonked her elbows on the table, reaching over to take a swig of Brendero's ale.

"So, I couldn't help overhearing about adventures and a curious fly. Just like you, I want adventures too. And I'm curious about the curious fly... and about that spider fierce."

:

by **Hanen** on August 12th, 2016, 1:42 am

"Were we buzzing that loudly?" Hanen said, embarrassed. He'd been so involved in the conversation he didn't notice what was happening around them--hardly a good habit to be getting into. "It's called the rubbish spider, if you're interested. I never liked the name. Defamatory to the spider. Not to mention the flies--who wants their corpse called trash?"

"But," he continued, a little more seriously. "I see you've already called yourself curious. How do you see the story ending, then? If by some miracle the fly sees the spider and lives, what does it do next? What would you do?"

Secret :

by **Brendero Marim** on August 12th, 2016, 5:22 pm

Brendero let the thought of the two of them being happier with each other's life mull over his head, at least until his... hairy companion started talking about himself - in riddles. He really did like Hanen so far, and before he could answer, a woman interrupted him, taking a swing of his ale (which didn't bother him, as he actually detested the taste) and talking about her curiosity, letting Bren think about the ape's words a bit more. Curious flies, they go farther than any other fly and have a chance if being rewarded for it by life itself... but if a curious fly is not also cautious, there is a spider waiting for it already. Bren shivered. He hated spiders. However, he felt ready for Hanen's next question.

"I'd fly away. I'd recall that I have wings, which is something the spider doesn't. Freezing in face of fear is foolish - important is what you do at the moment, not the situation around you." He said and sighed. He got carried away at the end, with his thought process moving at a too fast rate for him to properly follow it himself.

OoC :

by **Kaleidoscope** on August 28th, 2016, 2:25 pm

"If the spider sees the fly, maybe it takes a liking to it, and lets it live simply because of the glorious nature of being alive. If I was that fly, I'd seize that opportunity and go live, a little or a lot!" With that, the girl grinned at the two of them. Their seriousness was confusing, but she didn't let it show too much. Although perhaps she did suddenly see it as her job to lighten them up a little.

"Maybe if I was that fly, I would suspect the spider was lonely, especially if all the flies were avoiding it. Maybe it just wants to talk, and shouldn't have such a fierce reputation after all." She mused for a moment, before leaning in conspiratorially. With a sly grin though, she added, "Although if it's disguising itself amongst the fly brethren's corpses... Well, that's just macabre."

"So, to sum up!" She drummed her fingers on the edge of the table. "I would fly closer, just to see if the spider was truly going to kill me. And then, I would either fly away as fast as my gossamer wings could take me if it did, or stay around and have a chat if it didn't."

"But I never did ask, what are your names? And you..." She gestured with one flippant hand at the large Jamouran, "What are you?" She smiled and winked, and then flipped her hair over her shoulder. "And what would you do, if you were that fly?"

Her speech over, and her questions asked, she relaxed back into her chair and withdrew a small scrap of paper from her satchel, reading it over before putting it back in her bag. She listened carefully and intently to what they had to say, but she was most definitely curious by nature, and her hazel-blue eyes wandered over the crowd with a distracted gaze as she nodded and 'mhm'ed to whatever the two were saying.

OOCApologies for the late response!

Open Festival Evenings of Alvadas