Closed The Aurora Bore Malice (Juliane Snowsong)

[Nikomas]

The Thirty-Seventh Day of the Spring Season, Five Hundred and Thirteen Years After the Valterrian

[Nikomas]

"Are you serious?" Nikomas asked his buddy, Varik, as they approached The Red Diamond Tavern. "Ghosts? In Avanthal?" "Yeah," the Vantha replied as he punched his friend in the arm. "You've been hitting the bottle again, haven't ya?" "Shut it!" Varik howled as he lunged at his companion and then swiftly captured him in a headlock. "Take that back!" he demanded as he twisted his knuckles against Nikomas' scalp. "Hey! That hurts! Stop!" the slightly smaller Vantha begged as he swung his arms in an attempt to break free. "Not...until...you...take that back!" Varik sputtered as he began to struggle just a little. "Fine!" Nikomas shouted. "You're right. There are ghosts in Avanthal! There...are...ghosts...in...Avanthal!" "See," Varik toyed now as he pushed the younger Vantha away, "that wasn't so hard. Was it, Niko?" "You're gonna end up joining your little ghost friends if you do that again," Nikomas spat as he made an attempt to fix his messed up hair and disheveled coat. "And I still think you're drunk!" he was quick to add as he bolted for the warmly-lit doorway of the tavern. "Ha!" Varik howled as he dashed after his buddy, stopping for the briefest of moments to gather up some fresh snow that he then launched, in ball form, at his best friend's head. Ducking, the projectile missed Nikomas, however, the tavern's heavy wooden door was certainly felt as it swung open and clipped him in the shoulder. "Petch!" he barked as he staggered back, only to find his friend on him, punching him in the same exact spot the door hit him. "What the petch?!" he cried out as he made a feeble attempt to block the attack. "Serves you right! Now get inside!" Varik exclaimed as he grabbed the wide collar of his friend's leather coat and pushed him through the now open door, leaving the patron that was departing in a somewhat startled state. Stumbling into the front foyer, the two Vantha males proceeded to remove their heavy coats and stomp the snow from their boots. "You know what?" Nikomas announced to his friend as he quickly surveyed the adjoining room, seeing a healthy assortment of patrons huddled around tables and clustered by the fireplace. "Your ghosts just gave me an idea." "Oh really? Did it hurt much when it happened?" Varik replied with a wicked grin as he made his way toward the bar. "No. Listen to me. We can have some fun with this," the younger Vantha began to explain in an eager, yet hushed tone. "You can't be the only one that's heard these rumors. So, I say, we play on the emotions of the crowd. Just...just look at them. They seem on edge already. Did you see how that guy reacted when we entered? He nearly jumped out of his boots! This is perfect! This is just the sort of night we need to grow our reputation as epic storytellers!" "The sort of night you need. I'm no storyteller." "Okay. Yeah. Whatever. My night. Our night. Who gives a prancing petch? Let's do this!"

[Juliane Snowsong]

After years of rare visits to other Holds and even wandering out, this was the year that Juliane had actually ventured out more. And it was with much hesitation at that. She didn't like venturing out anymore, but she had to. If she was going to travel in the future, she had to start wandering from her Arvinta now. So, she finally decided she'd go outside of her Arvinta; her Hold; her safe haven.

As she walked down to the main door of her own Hold, she stopped. Where to go? Another Hold, a shop around Avanthal? Where? After debating long and hard on where to go exactly - especially with all the snow and ice around; she didn't want to get stuck outside or slip and fall - she decided to migrate over to the The Red Diamond Tavern. She hadn't been there since she was at least fifteen - she was seventeen now. So why not check out how the place was holding up after all this time? She might even run into an old friend. Maybe. That wasn't something she was too sure of.

She had her coat on, her casual clothes, and the boots; everything kept her warm enough. So she stepped out of her safe haven and traveled over, unsure of what to expect. Upon entering the place, she kicked the snow off of her boots before she walked around, admiring some of the carvings here and there and making sure not to bump into anyone. that's the last thing she wanted - to bump into someone and seem rude. So as she focused entirely on looking around and being polite, her eyes changed to the ever-so-rare shade of orange; it was a color that never usually graced her eyes. For she was one to get side-tracked way too easily. She couldn't help it.

She pulled on the sleeves of her coat and furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes in search for anyone she might know. She saw people by the fireplace, the one in another room, some coming in through the main door every now and then, and curious wanderers traveling through the halls of the Hold. She even saw a small child or two, but paid no mind to them.

After letting her thoughts slip into yet another debate of what to do, she decided to go into the room with fireplace. It looked cozy from where she stood. Maybe if she stood in there, warmed up a bit more, and was patient, she'd find a familiar face; maybe she'd find just anyone that seemed interesting enough to converse with. So she shuffled into the room, leaned against a wall not to far from the warm fire and sighed quietly, a bit relieved from the chilly weather she had been in not long ago. She loved her home - Avanthal in general - but sometimes she wished to live somewhere not so cold.

After a few moments of just hearing chatter and laughter in the room, she heard a small commotion in the other room and what sounded like boys (or men, she didn't know) voices. She turned her head slightly to look, but just shrugged it off, looking back at the fire. The beauty of the flame danced in the reflection of her still orange eyes.

[Nikomas]

As Nikomas entered the main room, with Varik right behind him, he toyed with his options on how he would launch into his story. Would he start out subtle and build to a climax or would he begin with a bang and grab them from the start? He could send Varik into the audience to stir things up. They'd done that before and it worked really well. The vibe of the room was... "Ladies. Gentlemen. May I have your attention please?" Varik was suddenly stating as he stood in the center of the room and swept his long arms through the air. "Wh...what are you doing?" Nikomas hissed as he tugged on his friend's sleeve. "I'm not ready." Without hesitation, Varik continued, "Tonight, for your pleasure and mine, I present to you a teller of stories so breathtakingly talented you'll wonder how you ever listened to any other and you'll beg to hear only his words in the days to come!" "Varik...," Nikomas muttered, trying to get him to stop. "You'll listen, intently, and watch, amazed, wondering how he made grown men weep and young ladies swoon, all at the same time!" "Varik...," Nikomas insisted through clenched teeth. "Behold...the myth...the legend...the man with the golden plan..." "Varik!" Nikomas demanded a tad bit louder than he had intended. "No! Not me! You! My best friend in the entire realm...Nikomas!" Varik finished with a grin so wide it nearly split his face in two, which was exactly what Nikomas wanted to do...with his fist. However, enough damage was already done. His intro was hanging in the air, so it was time to either grasp it and run or tuck his tail between his legs and, well, run...right out of the tavern. Obviously, he had only one choice if he ever wanted to show his face in this establishment again. "Thank you, my friend. Now, please, take a seat and shut that drunken trap of yours!" the young Vantha joked, with his most charming smile, as he pushed his friend into the nearest empty chair. "Ladies. Gentlemen. My friend knows not what he speaks of, for I am just a humble man with a simple story to share on this dark and snowy night." Nikomas paused now and took a quick inventory of the room. It was a mix of men and women, young and old, which meant he couldn't really slant the story one way or the other. If the audience would've been mostly female, he would've worked in a bit of romance, and if the men were greater in number, he would've added more fighting and bloodshed. Tonight, it seemed, there was going to have to be a careful balance of the two. "What ya waitin' for?" someone in the crowd questioned. "Tell us ya'r story or take a seat next to ya'r drunk buddy and let someone with somethin' important to say take the floor." "And do you believe there is someone with a greater story than that which contains a forlorn girl bent on revenge...an adventurous guy whose bravery would be his undoing...and a swarm of spiteful spirits? For that is the tale I wish to tell this evening and its title is...," he paused now for dramatic effect, getting as close as he could to a nearby lantern so that the shadows played on his face just so, "The Aurora Bore Malice."

[Juliane Snowsong]

As soon as Juliane got focused upon the fire, her thoughts, and listening to her surroundings, a male’s voice was heard. It sounded close, too, so she turned her head. She saw two men enter the room – one a bit more eccentrically. Although it wasn’t too odd. People did enter and talk like that in Avanthal, especially when-

She had a feeling she knew what this was about. After pursing her lips, she turned her attention to the men, tilting her head ever so slightly and focusing upon them; her eyes still shining with an orange color, now mixing with tinges of pink, almost making it look like a salmon-y shade.

"Tonight, for your pleasure and mine, I present to you a teller of stories so breathtakingly talented you'll wonder how you ever listened to any other and you'll beg to hear only his words in the days to come!" one of the men announced. She knew it. It was another moment in her life that she was going to witness a Vantha presenting some amazing story about who knows what. She grinned. She loved stories. It was one of the many, many reasons she loved her race; the stories were always good, no matter how boring they could actually be (thanks to a few lone people).

She noticed the other man – possibly partner in crime, she assumed – was whispering something to the one talking so loudly. What was he doing? She kept her eyes on him before the other continued. She looked around the room to see others as their focus now lay on the two men. This story had better be interesting. It was actually make her journey into the real world worth it.

But just as the one man slowly began building up to some climatic thing – Juliane hadn’t been paying too much attention, so whatever he was saying went in one ear and out the other – the second man who was quiet announced "Varik!" in a loud manner. She just blinked. She didn’t recognize the name. Maybe it was one of them?

Before she knew it, the two exchanged looks and were.. Juliane would call it friendly arguing, but that didn’t seem like the right description. But before she did know it, the quiet one (whom she learned was named Nikomas) began speaking. She kept her focus on him, awaiting the story. She wished she had paid more attention to the first guy, maybe some of what he said would give a hint as to what the story was about. She shrugged it off though.

Juliane raised her eyebrows as he went on, giving insight on his ideas for the story. A forlorn girl bent on revenge, she quoted him in her mind. An adventurous guy whose bravery would be his undoing. A swarm of spiteful spirits. She knew which part she’d rather hear. “The Aurora Bore Malice”, she whispered under her breath. It was interesting. Her mind was filling up with ideas, assumptions, and thoughts of her own about how the story would go; what would happen? Storytelling was almost like a kryptonite for her. But that was thanks to her Vantha blood.

When had she last heard another story from a Vantha? Months? A year at least? She thought of it for a few seconds, staring off into the distance and questioning simple things. For a moment, her eyes searched the room, curious if anyone would join in on his story, add on, and make it more worthwhile. But she’d just have to wait until that actually happened. She wasn’t one to yell out like others did, but she was excited for stories, so in her mind, as she stared at this Nikomas guy, she commanded in thought: Hurry it up, you!

[Nikomas]

"The Aurora Bore Malice," Nikomas repeated as he stepped away from the lantern and began to circle the room. "I first heard of this tale when I was but a mere boy of four. It was told to me by my grandmother, who came upon the story in much the same fashion: through an elder, at a very early age. Yet, I feel compelled to warn you, this is no child's bedtime rhyme." Nikomas paused now - for effect - and intently gazed upon the fire that crackled in the hearth. He did his best to convey a look of deep concentration and then utter recollection, as if he had buried the story deep inside, only to unearth it, just when he needed it the most, which couldn't have been farther from the truth, since the story was literally forming on his lips as he dreamed it up in the moment. "Our story begins on an evening very similar to the one we are enjoying here tonight, in a place not unlike The Red Diamond itself. However, as you will soon come to learn, the establishment no longer stands, for it fell, as many things did, during the course of this utterly tragic tale." Nikomas took a moment now to gather his thoughts, however, on the surface, he made it appear as if he were shaken to his very core by the senseless tragedy, unable to say a word more. "Solaria...," he began again with a slight hitch in his voice, "a musician from Snowsong, and Vanic, a sailor from Coolwater, were, upon first glance, a most unlikely pair. She was plain of appearance and dull in conversation, therefore, she went mostly unnoticed by the men of her Hold, as well as any other. While he, on the other hand, was afforded both striking good looks and a talented tongue, making him the center of more than a few girls attention. Now, that's not to say that Vanic was a proud or boastful man. Not at all. He was actually rather humble, which, to be honest, made him all that more attractive. So when he spoke about his adventures on the dangerous, high seas - seeing that he was a crewman on an oft travelled merchant vessel - he did so in a way that was more endearing than annoying. Solaria, however, was a bit more, uh, shall we say, confident in her skills as a gifted violinist. Having very little to work with in both the physical and social sense, the young Vantha openly embraced her gift from Morwen rather obsessively. If one paid any attention to the dour girl, they would quickly come to realize that her instrument was on her person at all times, ready to be played at a moments notice. And so, on a snowy night, mid-season, not so long ago, the two strangers met in a quiet little tavern by the sea..." Nikomas paused once more, but this time it was to take a sip of his friend's drink, which Varik had fetched during the set-up of the story. Glancing around the room, over the edge of the mug as he drank, he tried to get a quick read on the audience. Had he hooked them yet? Were his characters compelling enough? It was always so hard to tell this early on. It was a teller's worst nightmare to be finished long before they even got close to the heart of their story. Nikomas hoped that tonight was not one of those nights.