What's In a Name? (Kael)

[Cael]

90th of Spring, 512 AV, Midday Cael was trying to learn how to juggle. He was standing in the middle of the street holding three smooth stones that he'd found near the docks. They were each slightly smaller than his fist and significantly harder to juggle than he'd expected. I'm a Child of the Aurora, damnit! he thought to himself. I should learn some useful entertainment skills. His style of clothing was clearly Vanthan. The all black cloth made of light material, the lack of shirt that proudly displayed the snowflake-shaped gnosis mark on his chest, the way his cloak was long and whipped about him when he walked...Cael definitely had a flair for the dramatic, as the rest of his people did. "Shyke!" he cursed when he dropped a stone on his foot. That was the first word he'd learned in Common. It was a nice curse word, sharp and good for almost any occasion. He liked it quite a lot. Picking up the stone, he glanced around sheepishly. Juggling was much harder than he thought it would be. Maybe I should try an easier skill, he thought ruefully. Then again, Cael was never one to give up on something he'd started. Still, I should probably find something less painful to drop. Walking along the streets, he looked around at all the people he saw. He'd finished his work the night before and had the rest of the day to himself. Let's see, what can I use to juggle with? he pondered to himself. He picked up a couple of sticks and tried those to no avail. The balance was off and they were much too light. This is beginning to be more trouble than it's worth, he grumbled to himself silently. Then he saw it. There, right in front of him, was a man selling crisp, green apples. "Perfect!" he cried out excitedly in his native tongue. Ignoring the odd stares he got, he walked up to the man and immediately purchased three apples. "Wait, make that four," he corrected. All this failure is making me hungry.

[Kael]

Kael was wandering the streets looking for entertainment. No one seemed to pay any attention to Kael, which didnt help his boredom. But his grin never left his face. He didn't feel like robbing anyone at the moment and he hadn't found anyone to spar with. "Come on, ssomething happen to make thiss day even a little more interessting!" He thought to himself out loud. A few people looked up at him, wondering what he was going on about, but quickly went back to their normal activities.

Kael then thought, silently this time, "Maybe I can buy a lock somewhere to work on my ability to pick them effectively." This idea appealed to Kael a little bit but not much. He started to wander in the direction he hoped he could find a merchant to buy a lock from. Kael stopped suddenly upon seeing a man who was tossing stones in the air. "What is he doing?" Kael wondered. "Oh, I know, he is trying to juggle!" he thought to himself. Kael was about to walk up to the man when the man dropped a stone on his foot. This made Kael laugh a little bit, and he decided to see what the man did next. "Thiss might entertain me for at leasst a little while." He said quietly to himself.

When the man tried sticks with little success, Kael started to wonder if he should talk up to the man. Kael started to step forward when the man cried out in a language Kael didn't understand and went over to a stall to buy some apples. "That was a little bit random" kael thought to himself with amusement. Some people gave the man a funny look but didn't bother themselves about it. At this point, Kael walked up to the man and said, in a friendly, teasing manner, "I don't think appless will be any eassier to juggle than the stoness you were trying with earlier." Then a slightly more serious, "Perhapss you sshould sstart with ssmall, light piecess of fabric to get an undersstanding of the movemntss required for juggling."

[Cale Fletcher]

Cale looked down the street. The groceries weighed in her arms as she whistled a tuneless stream of notes. She loved doing the odd job or two that involved traveling around the city. Ahead, she spotted the fruit stall. When she arrived, a man had engaged another in conversation. "If you need cloth," she offered, "I bought a few extra rolls, 'cause I always manage to drop one or two somehow." She gave herself mental praise for buying the extra with her own money. Now she wouldn't have to feel guilty about spending the money of others.
"Why do you need it anyway?" She asked this as she rummaged through her bags for the cloth. "I mean I would really love to test out some deductive reasoning, but it's hot, and I'm tired. It's not that you aren't really interesting! It's just the fact that I'm a bit low on energy and... Oh sorry! I'm beginning to talk a bit much, aren't I? Right. Ceasing to speak as of now." She put renewed energy into searching. "Found it!" She crowed in triumph, wielding the roll like a sword.

[Cael]

Cael grinned at the other man. "Apples hurt much less than rocks," he reasoned. Taking a bite out of one of the apples, he put the others in his pocket. They didn't fit well, but it was better than trying to hold them all at once. When the stranger offered his advice on using cloth, Cael instantly imagined tiny scraps. He was immediately confused. How does one juggle a piece of cloth? he asked himself. Wouldn't it simple float to the ground? Before he could ask this, a woman strolled up and offered some of her own. Surprised, Cael listened in fascination as she spoke. Her words came very quickly. As he wasn't fluent in common, he missed several words. He got the gist of what she was saying, but it took him several moments to piece him together. "Oh, my friend here was giving me advice on how to...how to..." His brow furrowed as he realized he had no idea what the Common word for "juggle" was. He only knew it in Vanthan. No, wait, he used an unfamiliar word earlier, Cael recalled. What was it? Jumbling? Jundering? Ju-something. "How to do this," he finally said, retrieving the apples from his pockets and attempting to juggle them. He managed to keep them in the air for a total of five seconds before dropping two of them.