Pocket of Sashes (Rythern & Fade)

[Rythern]

14th Spring, 510 A.V.

Time: Noon
Location: Outside The Golden Dragon


Rythern tied the sash around the trunk of one of the small trees, and stepped back to look it over.

It was just a little ways away from The Golden Dragon, and near enough for the blue silk sash to be noticed by someone approaching the tavern. He hoped, anyway. After all, he had told Fade to meet him outside the place. The Vantha did still plan on meeting her, but in truth, outside the Golden Dragon was only the starting point. He had a twist in mind, an idea sparked by the first conversation he'd had two days ago with the gifted contortionist.

The young man glanced up. It was nearly midday. He scrawled a quick note:

South. Take this with you.
-R

and tucked it into the sash. Then he admired his handiwork again, hoped fervently that it was obvious enough, hoped fervently that nobody would take the note or the sash (or both) before Fade showed up, and hoped fervently that Fade showed up at all, before swiftly leaving the front of the Golden Dragon and heading south along the road.

Along the way, he pulled out another sash. Red this time.

When he'd walked about forty paces, Rythern eyed the wooden siding of a building and drew a throwing knife from the pouch at his belt. It was doable, he thought. And if it wasn't, the young man was determined to make it doable. He tossed up the sash in the air, ran back a few steps to give himself distance, and then threw the knife to nail it to the wall.

It hit the building, but it had missed the sash. The Vantha sprinted forward again to catch the sash and the knife, before trying the same thing.

The blade spun through the air. Missed again.

The third time it managed to catch the sash and bury itself an inch or two into the wood. Quick to admire his own accomplishments, the young entertainer was grinning to himself. That was not bad. And if Fade had any doubt before that the sashes were him, she certainly wouldn't once she got here and saw the knife.

He scribbled another note. West.

Then he left in that direction, pulling a third sash from his pocket.

[Fade]

Fade made her way slowly through the heat haze that covered Syliras grateful for her light dress. Her bag bounced on her hip every time she took a step and a lock of blonde white her fell incessantly over her face, after some time she gave up pushing it away.

She arrived at The Red Dragon just a hair breath late, she looked around, her blue eyes studying every person. Annoyed she walked to a tree for some shadow, it was then that she noticed the blue sash with a note attached to it signed by a simple R. Oh well Ryhten had said that she had to look for a blue sash, so it was a game, a trail. South, she looked around: which was south?.
She walked to the middle of the road rolling her eyes as she tied the blue sash to her wrist.
When a man passed she quickly closed the distance between them with fast nimble steps. She asked which direction was south and he not to grudgingly told her all four points of the compass.

She thanked him and made her way slowly south, after some time she noticed a red sash pinned by a dagger. So it was indeed Rythen, the note said –west- so she turned tying the knife to the red sash o make an impromptu high belt.

She hoped she didn’t have to walk around all day following cryptic notes around Syliras and carry around many sashes.
She smiled as she thought that in some time she could open an impromptu sash stall.
She hummed a little tune as she walked slowly as always steps perfectly balanced.

[Rythern]

Rythern walked west along the street, twirling now a yellow sash around with his hands, and grinned cheerily to the various people he passed. He was in a good mood. There was still that pesky worried feeling that maybe Fade wouldn't come, but he found himself worrying less as he was enjoying the brainstorming involved with the process. It required him to be more imaginative. Rythern liked that.

He found a signpost on a street corner, and tied the yellow sash there.

Follow your shadow.
-R

That was still west, technically, but more to the southwest now. The young man shielded his eyes and glanced up at the sun. He hoped this worked. It was nearly noon, and soon there wouldn't be any shadow at all.

He turned to walk in that direction, winding through several buildings, leaving brightly colored sashes at obvious intervals in between. One he twisted into a bow knot and pinned it to a wall with another light knife. He hoped that would amuse her. When he passed the stables, he tied one there as well. The corresponding notes that he left were short, but, he hoped, understandable.

Rythern had twelve sashes in all, though he planned only to use six. The other six he kept with himself in his pocket. He had other ideas for them.

The Vantha had been entertaining himself so much with thinking up creative placements for the sashes, he nearly forgot his final destination until he got there. He stood on the soft grass by the Stone Gardens and looked up again at the sky. Fade, if she showed up, would probably have found some of the sashes by now. He smiled to himself. Then he found the nearest tree, wrapped the last of the six sashes (orange) at eye-level around the trunk, and wrote his final note.

Expect the unexpected.

Then he grasped a low sturdy limb, pulled his light frame up into the tree, rearranged himself into a more comfortable position — or as comfortable as one could be while sitting cross-legged in a tree, but he'd once been an acrobat, so comfort was relative — and waited.

[Fade]

Fade found the sash with the note that said –Follow your shadow- she turned to see her shadow stretching out, she shrugged and went in that direction. She knew it was right when she saw other sashes tied at intervals from each others and another knife.

She must have cut a strange figure: she had a sash tied to each of her wrists, one around her lower leg, one making a belt with to daggers stuck in and one tying her hair back,
As the sashes stopped at the stone gardens she looked for another one: an orange sash was tied around a tree.
As she walked to the tree she sang a song her friend had sung to annoy her, she sang also as she untied the orange sash.
“See a woman as pale as snow
Silent come silent go
See a girl with golden white hair
Of her light touch beware
To see your desires from deep within
Beneath your soul beneath your skin”
She trailed off as she bent over to read the note that had fallen in the mean time.
-Expect the unexpected- She was truly puzzled it was impossible to expect the unexpected, her mind reeled. She sat down comfortably stretching out with her bare legs in front of her, there were no other sashes in sight so all she could do was wait.
And waited for a few minutes then said in a loud voice “I’m expecting an unexpected flying pig to flit by” She always wanted to see a flying pig, without reason she started to laugh softly at the mere idea of a flying pig.

[Rythern]

OOCApologies for the delay! As finals are now over, I'll be back to regular posting.

Through the lower leaves of the tree, the young Vantha noted Fade's approach with interest. He had unfolded himself from his previous cross-legged position and his legs now dangled idly from his perch, though he'd pulled himself high enough in the tree that someone coming wouldn't spot that. Hopefully.

Fade was singing, and admittedly it sounded rather cute to him. She had a fairly pretty voice. He hadn't known that.

He also noticed that she was wearing the sashes he'd used as markers around Syliras, in all their cheerful colors. So she'd found them all, he thought with quiet satisfaction. And it was impossible to ignore the fact that that was ridiculously cute.

Rythern watched as Fade paused at the base of the tree, where he'd tied the orange sash. There were no others. She had stopped singing by now, and he wondered what she'd do - if she did anything - now that she'd evidently reached her destination. Her expression bore the curious preoccupation of someone who might be contemplating action, or perhaps just someone who was confused.

The young man saw her glance at the note and look around for another clue, or for him. Expect the unexpected. Would Fade say anything? Call out for him maybe? Eh, probably not.

She sat down and said loudly, "I'm expecting an unexpected flying pig to flit by."

Rythern, who had one arm leaning against the trunk of the tree for balance, had to shove his face into the crook of that arm's elbow to stifle his burst of laughter.

Well. He had to give the young contortionist credit; he hadn't expected that.

Using the shadows of acrobatic skill from his memory, the Vantha climbed swiftly and silently down to one of the lower tree limbs, then pulled his legs back up and swung them around to get a firmer grip on the bough. When he had, he stopped leaning the majority of his weight sideways against the tree trunk and dropped the upper part of his torso so that he was hanging upside down from the branch.

In the meantime, he'd reached once again into the pocket of sashes.

"How about flying silk?" he asked behind her head, and let a pink one drift down to land on her face.

[Fade]

Fade smiled as she saw the pink ribbon land in her lap, she had always liked ribbons flowing in the wind.In truth she actually found inspiration for her acts in a twisting turning ribbon.

She didn’t move when she heard his voice behind her head she just took the ribbon and ran it through her fingers and said sweetly “Hello pink pig”

Then she turned to see his grinning upsidedown face beside her, she rolled her eyes in mock exageration and said “Ah Rythen you were lucky I wasn’t bad tempered todday and how could you know I could read?” She chuckled “No problem though, but I had to ask which direction was south...”

She turned to face him “I guess you have many suprises waiting for me down the path we’re going.”

She glanced up and had half a mind to pull him down she grinned at him and said getting up “Should we test your flying skills?”

[Rythern]

"Pink pig?" Rythern said, feigning indignation. "Really Fade, I was expecting a more flattering welcome. 'Hello, mastermind of this ingenious hunt' would've been nice. Or, you know, something about my creative imagination and accompanying good looks."

The Vantha's accent was lilting, and brimming with the brightness of stifled laughter. He winked cheerily at her. "But hello to you too. I'm glad you came back. How've you been?

"As for how I knew you could read, well." Rythern shrugged - it was an interesting feat when his body was upside down. "I just made some assumptions and went ahead winging it." That was how he did most things in life, actually. "And I do have a few surprises, yes. But that doesn't mean you can't throw a few of your own in my direction."

"Should we test your flying skills?" Fade asked playfully.

The mischievous grin on her face probably meant bad things for a young man who was light, hanging upside down, and not a flying pig.

"Sorry. Must've left my wings at home," he said with a grin to match.


OOCI did actually laugh aloud at the 'pink pig' bit in your post.

[Fade]

“Oh I barley survived without you” She rolled her eyes and said
“Seriously just going on in life. How did you cope without my beautiful countenance?” She batted her eyelids and grinned.

“Ah, you should always remember your wing less you might…fall”
She grabbed his shoulders pulling him forwards and up so he would fall but not on his head, it also cushioned his fall somewhat. She stood over him with a very serious expression tying the pink ribbon around her thin waist and taking all the sashes but that one off and suddenly said grinning “Unexpected uh?”

She was pleased to see him though, she sat down beside him smiling again for the pink pig part of their conversation. And then she burst out laughing, it was the first time in so much time she had graced anyone around her and herself with the sound. Her laugh was clear, light-hearted and musical to the ears. She was surprised with herself, maybe it was the season or the weather.

[Rythern]

Rythern laughed at Fade's first retort. "Of course, of course."

"Seriously just going on in life." Fade batted her eyelashes. "How did you cope without my beautiful countenance?"

"Poorly, I assure you," said the Vantha.

She was smiling a lot today. It surprised him. Well, she'd smiled the first time he met her, too, but during that encounter, her personality had been marked by something different. Solemnity, almost. Today, she seemed lighter, more relaxed — and it had a mirrored effect in Rythern himself. Not that he wasn't (entirely too) relaxed on a daily basis, but still.

He had been so distracted by his own train of thought that he missed what Fade said next, and probably shouldn't have, since by the next second, Fade had reached out, drawn him up by the shoulders, and pulled him out of the tree.

"Hey!" he said, looking up into her determinedly serious expression and trying once again to look indignant, though his face was splitting into a smile no matter what he told it to do.

Then she sat down beside him, and when she started laughing, Rythern stopped breathing. It was beautiful, strangely familiar yet unfamiliar – familiar to him, unfamiliar to her – like she hadn't done so in a long time, yet almost like he'd used to know her. It was impossible, of course, but the Vantha was once again seized with the feeling of alikeness. Of kinship.

Before long he was laughing with her, for no good reason other than the pointless hilarity of flying pigs and falling out of trees.

"So," he said through chuckles, "how does lunch sound to you?"

[Fade]

As he joined her laugh she felt warm, she looked at the sun and went on laughing. She propped herself against the trunk of the tree feeling its roughness through her light dress.
She then handed the sashes and the two daggers back to him but the pink one around her waist.
“Can I keep it?” She ran her finger along the silk and smiled eyes twinkling.

“Lunch?” She said still chuckling “I hope no flying pigs have been injured in the making of it!”
She looked around “Where though? You want to go back to the Red Dragon? Or have something light…” She stifled a laugh, tried to compose herself, failed and continued ”To eat here or around”

She played with a blade of grass, examining it she then through it at Rythen and said “You better brush yourself down, you’re a grassy mess!”
She sighed and leaned back.