Graceful Fire (Open to All)

[Zaira]

Season of Summer Day 47
City Streets
Open to All, Tag Vor


A smile had the power to transform the wretched into angelic, the bitter into welcome, or a pretty girl into a lovely goddess. A new set of clothes didn’t hurt the transformation either.

Happy steps were how she walked now upon cobbled streets and pack upon her back. Her cloak which she wore through out their shopping and travel, made her appear like a billowing apparition, shapeless and gliding, despite her companion having seen her in far less. In their travels she had walked by his side or wandered away while under the veils of her cloak and face obscured but for her face.

She would have continued to do so now, were it not for the novelty of her foreigner clothes. Blue eyes glinted with merriment as the dancer threw a glance back towards the Symenestra before her head turned sharply at the sound of music and her gliding steps carried her forward towards the newest found distraction.

Zaira traded away for the moment her cloak and dress for black leather pants, a white cotton shirt and black vest a red sash was tied loosely around her neck. The shopping had been an adventure of amusing proportions with the clothier. The Benshira had an idea of the clothes she wished to acquire, clothes she had seen already that day as they had walked, but, she still had been enraptured by the selection, color a feel of the clothing on display. To say the clerk had been unsettled by the covered figure and her companion was probably an understatement. But some of the apprehension had faded when the dancer had removed her veils, and although she did not speak much, not much had to be spoken aside the jingle of coin and the delight that had played upon her face as she willingly became the shop keepers dress doll before settling firmly upon the outfit she wore and a few other items.

It was not as free as her dress, nor quiet as alluring Zaira would amid it held an appeal it was still fitted and in face probably showed her figure better than the dress, but it was defiantly not for dance, these were her new travel clothes and while it was hardly likely anyone would see them often, today, she would show off her new clothes with joy. And her new toys that comfortably bounced upon the back of her thigh.

Zaira moved quickly towards the sound of music, people were performing upon the streets, as others watched, and some even gave out their coin in return. There were jugglers, musicians, a man doing a most disturbing thing with blades and another walking with clawed… scorpions hanging from his face.

The woman backed up a step quickly and bumped into someone. Yet her concern had been the poi handles she felt slip from her pants. However the stumble the woman had made, caused another, and another caused a small fire bowl to be upended spilling embers and burning coals along its path.

The spilled flames and glowing coals created a bit of a stir, people backing away, jostling one another and leaping back. And in the chaos, the Poi was lost underfoot.

Secret :

Sales Receipt of Summer Day 47 AV 506
Black Leather pants 8sm
Blue Chemise Linen 1 sm
Natural Cotton Shirt 1 sm x 3
Red Cotton sash 2 sm
Black Cotton Vest 1 sm
Clappers (1) x 2 1 sm
Slingshot (Hebrean)
Slingshot Bullets (10) x2 1 sm
Poi (1 pair) 2gm

Starting 100 gm
-2gm 18sm= -3gm 8 sm
Ending 96gm 2sm

[Nya Winters]

She'd been people watching again. It was one of Nya's favorite past times. The Kelvic had fed well in the early afternoon and had snacked on sweetbread as the sun went down. But when the graceful dancer... for Nya assumed she was a dancer... moved through the crowd then stumbled awkwardly, it got the kevlics attention. People watched the woman. They watched her in a way that the forest cat turned human had never anticipated. Nya tilted her head to one side, deftly avoided getting jostled, and pounced on the poi that rolled well out of Zaira's possession. Nya simply couldn't help it. Something small and tantalizing rolling underfoot - the kelvic was easily distracted and found delight in diving into the crowd to retrieve what she considered was a lost toy. She killed it neatly, pouncing upon it, then snatching it up to toss high into the air. She caught it neatly, batted it away with a hand, and scurried after it completely distracted from paying any attention at all to the crowd nor the reason they were gathering.

Nya was dressed humanly enough in black leather trousers that hugged her flat stomach and a black tank top that showed off bare forearms that were sculpted with muscle. A forest cat locked in silver winked from her waist - a belt buckle with gemstone eyes. And black boots hugged her calves, matching the leather of the backpack that was tucked against her spine. She looked unarmed - her long hair caught up in a single plait, the forest cat played.

Eventually she tired of the game, and moved to the side of the street, where she found a seat on a bench designed for old people. Leaning back against the backpack, Nya fingered the poi, trying to guess what in the world the thing was. She sniffed at it, tasted it, and then turned it over and over in her hands. Quick moss green eyes studied the street, looking for signs of the dancer, hoping that the woman would give her a clue as to the objects use.

... Not that she'd easily give it back.

[Kadarus]

Kadarus had, for once, stumbled upon a hit of good luck. He hadn't been in the city for very long, and despite his stay being as aggravating as usual - he had suffered the usual masterless kelvic jokes at the taverns when trying to get a simple cup of ale - the day's trip to the market had been suspiciously simple. Every merchant and every stand he'd stopped at had been stocked with exactly what he needed. The new box of tobbacco was full of smelled strongly hinted, possibly, with a flavor of a fruit of some kind. The jerked beef he'd purchased hadn't been streaked with strings of white mold, as it had been in his last trip to the city. Not that the meats appearance had affected him any - he'd shovelled it down, barely tasting it. The hunter had, after all, eaten more gruesome and disgusting things in times of need.

The kelvic had gotten good and drunk the night before, and despite the slowly dissipating hangover, he was a in a good mood. Well, good was probably quite a stretch; decent would perhaps suffice, for even as he walked through the busy market crowds, he still did so with a stalk that strongly suggested he was ready to lunge, teeth bared, at the drop of a hat. After finishing off his first jug of wine, he'd decided on top of meat and tobbacco, he truly did need new clothes; the sleeves of his sweater were frayed, becoming threadbare, and riddled with cigarette burns. Both his coat and pants were drafty, and offered little solace from the cold of night with their tears and wears, and it was simply amazing that his boots hadn't fallen apart. They had, in fact, though he had managed to glue the heels back on after walking the countryside barefoot for two weeks. For once, aside from sinking his blade into the heart of a Zith, Kadarus seemed to be excited over his purchases, and had already stripped his upper torso, tossed his old garments in the trash, and donned his new clothes. The new jacket creaked as all fresh leather did, and it looked much like his old coat, with a double row of polished brass buttons.

What little bit of sunshine that seemed to brighten the ever grim hunter slipped away quickly as he trudged towards the lilting, grating sound of music and gasping onlookers. It was gradual at first, as he passed through the entertainers and performers, preferring not to slog through the crowd of spectators, until a man rushed up to him. The entertainer shoved his face towards Kadarus, who growled and recoiled at the sight of the wiggling scorpions hanging from the other man's cheeks. He let out an obnoxious hoot and spun away with a theatrical flair to grin at some awestruck children just precious seconds before the kelvic gave into the urge to rid the man of his scorpion infestation with a lightning quick right cross.

"Gods damn city...freaks...need another Valterrian," he muttered venomously, turning his attention away from the scorpion man, starting forward in time for a woman - Benshira, he assumed, by the sun kissed hue of her skin, the startling crystal blue of her eyes, and her very coverings - to bumble and stagger into a firedish. The coals and embers went splashing across the market road, his old, worn boots, and ragged pants. The spectators cried out in shock and terror, fleeing for fear of getting burnt, but Kadarus didn't seem to even flinch; he merely glared at the sparks, and kicked the glowing coals from his feet.

The fire and the burn were given little attention - he saw something more interesting. The Benshira woman had her back to him as he bent and picked up the strange thing she'd dropped. Kadarus was a simple kelvic, as was all of his race. He knew nothing of the arts, of performing or painting or singing, so the object was entirely alien to him. While he denied the urges, he was by nature curious, and he turned it end over end in his rough hand as he began to walk again, ignoring the crowds as he inspected the poi.

Sniffing, he paused only a short distance away, glancing up towards the bench upon which a woman sniffed. She smelled of fires and cave floors, of furs, of woodlands and the hunt, and if he could not guess she was feline in nature by that alone, the very way which she mischeivously played with the object in her hand, identical to the one he held himself, was a very bald statement to her heritage. "Hey," he called to the woman in a tone as strugglingly friendly as he could muster. Kadarus raised the hand he held the poi in, tipped up his hat a single inch to let her see the shining gold eyes beneath the shade of the brim, and held the thing towards her.

"You got any idea what this thing is?"

Secret :

Sales Receipt of Summer Day 47 AV 506

Cold Candle x5 = 5 gm
Jerked Beef x1lb = 7gm
High boots x1 = 5 sm
Leather Pants X1 = 8 sm
Leather Jacket x1 = 1 gm
Cotton Vest x2 = 2 sm
Cotton Shirt x2 = 2 sm
Broad Brimmed Hat x1 = 8gm
Leather Belt x1 = 2 sm
Plain Buckle x1 = 2 sm
Whetstone x1 = 2cm
Studded Gauntlets= 5 gm
Throwing Daggers x 10 = 10 gm
Tobbacco x 1lb = 5 sm

Starting, 100 gm
- 38 gm, 6 sm, 2 cm
Remainder, 62 gm, 4 sm, 98 cm
(Think I got that right)

[Damien]

"Ah, yes, sir, you have a fine eye. Those peaches are of the highest quality, and we only stock cream freshly imported. No chance to lose its flavor here, no sir!" The spiderlike shopkeeper was busily pointing out his different wares to Damien, who looked over them with a practiced eye.

"Hmm... this peach is bruised, your cream's gone bad, and I'm seriously beginning to wonder about that smell in your booth... is that vinegar?"

The look of greed on the man's face passed to one of confusion instantly, Damien burst into laughter as he walked on. "Just as I thought... you're maybe 200 years too young to try and sell me bad ingredients, hah! I find it funny that some people still think they can teach me about freshness! A cook needs to know his ingredients, after all."

He went through a few other stalls... woah, were those apples? Summer apple pie! Nice catch! He slowly meandered over to the stall, moving out of the thick cloud of smoke that tended to gather around him if he stayed still for too long.

"Let's see, this apple and this apple..." He began very carefully pouring over the fruit, his long fingers gripping this or that apple. He was nearly ready to make his purchase, when disaster struck!

A fire bowl had been upended somewhere nearby, and Damien smelled a woman's distress! To Damien, if there was a woman in distress, it was worse than if he had died! His slouched frame suddenly burst into action, and he sprinted towards the clearing of the crowd that the spilled flame had created. Where was she? Ah... he spied Zaira, who did indeed look momentarily distressed.

This would not do! He leapt through a brief spurt in the fallen fire's liveliness, and had to duck to avoid a few old grandpa's in his way. This crowd was an obstacle course.

He arrived just in time, his blond hair swaying slightly in the breeze.

"Mademoiselle. Are you quite alright?" He asked, trying his best to supress his lecherous grin...what an attractive maiden! How fair! The gods were kind indeed.

[Voreasos Alisier]

Vor disliked the city yet he was here for only her. Zaira was never away from his side unless he had to eat alone or she had to travel for a bit yet all in all the short time they were together they never left each other.

Yet all in all he stayed by her side until a group took her away as it formed a wall. His body moving quickly back at her side as a human came near her asking questions. Vor was not the type to get mad but with the lack of space and with the idea that Zaira was in danger he did not go with a happy route.

His claws moving around Zaira's hands pulling her to his side as he opened his mouth hissing Damien showing his spider like fangs as he moved between him and Zaira as he acted like a shield. He would have to deal with him before he could deal with her.

[Zaira]

Scorpions, foul, treacherous creatures. How anyone found delight in showing up with those upon creatures upon their face was beyond the Benshira. They were a bane in the sands of her home; clothes and blankets had to be shaken out before donned in dear of those miscreants and their sting.

The sudden freight and revulsion the woman had felt had set off a chain reaction within the crowd and jostling bodies fled around her like frightened goats, and in a moment the plaza was no longer a familiar place and she was cut a drift in the sea of moving bodies.

A rushing figure halted before Zaira so near. Blue eyes looked up to Damien; the start upon her face had only begun to fade when narrow digits closed around her wrist.

The swift switch rocked the dancer yet she was anchored to place by the hand on her wrist. The symmnestra before her was a familiar figure yet the hissing display, something she was growing use to, still caused the smaller woman to tremble. All the same she pulled on the hand that held her pulling the fanged male a step away from Damien. Her peaceful face frowned at V lightly shaking her head.

“No.” The single syllable word was said so carefully in her accented voice and with a solemn look as she gauged the expression of the men. Her sapphire eyes slid from Vor after giving a small raise of her brows, a look of reproach, to Damien. Her head canted to the side looking at the blonde haired man, t was a curious expression she bore now, his words, had hardly been interpreted.

What he had said first, had it been a name? Yet the word ‘alright’ was the same as well, clearly he had mistaken her for someone else and asked if she was well.

Her head nodded slightly before delicate fingers touched her chest lightly. “I, am Zaira. I am, ‘alright’.”


Dark lashes fluttered, but not for flirtation, the steady weight was noticed again, not for being there, but for being gone! Zaira’s hand swept over hr bottom before turning around and casting her eyes to the ground. Her instruments, her poi, they were gone. Quick steps carried her away from Vor and Damien her eyes upon the ground and darting as an expression of anxious sorrow began to blossom upon her face as her loose hair began to fall forward.

She had only just bought the pair that morning and now before she even lit them they were lost before the sun had even fully set. The world was being cast in darkening light as purples and golds ate across the sky.

Ah but there was a sound that drew the Benshira’s attention, two figures, and they each held a poi, the expression upon Zaira’s face transformed once more and her light stepped carried her towards the pair before slowing She held her hand out after pointing to the metal chains and their balls of wick that Nya and Kadarus. She looked uncomfortable, almost uncertain that the pair would return the items to her.

“Many thanks for your help. Those are my. Return, please?” The broken common was said with care as the woman let her eyes dance between the pair in quiet wait.

[Nya Winters]

Nya noted his eyes. Her smile grew and her whole frame echoed playfulness as she held up the found item - one which she had no name for. Now however, it was all but forgotten. As if she were truly a cat, her attention snapped away from her present endeavor to the new situation that had just presented itself. She wrinkled her nose slightly: Dog. No, not dog.. wolf. Nya tilted her head, flashed a brief smile, and nodded. Kelvic. He didn't exactly smell bad in the classical sense of unwashed man or garbage. But he smelled like a wolf - something she decidedly wasn't sure she wanted to entertain. Her thoughts were on the small bold creatures that roamed the Cobalts, gathering in packs and extremely social. Was he a threat? Nya tilted her head the other way and decided he probably wasn't. There was no evidence of steel on him, no bow... nothing but a predatory gaze that had she been surrounded by mirrors would have recognized in her own face.

Nya assumed the wolf could smell her as well - clearly identifying her as some sort of wild cat. If he'd seen forest cats before, he'd most likely peg her immediately.

She glanced down at the Poi in her hand and shook her head. "No, but its got a handle, a grip... I think it is a tool or a toy." She observed. Wolves. Not the brightest were they? "You should be more interested in the Symenestra hissing at the man. He is acting possessive of the woman over there who dropped this. I think it is hers. Symenestra kill humans and eat them. If they do not eat them, they breed with them and that kills them instead." She said in a completely encyclopedic manner. She said it with such cold disinterested casualness that it even caused her to blink in sudden startlement - as if she had just recognized what was going on and hadn't realized she knew. Nya had noticed but it hadn't registered in her brain until the words were actually spoken aloud. Her moss green eyes grew wide and she turned then, staring fully at Zaira. Nya had no idea if the wolf was bonded or not, but as an unbonded Kelvic, she was definitely looking - even unconsciously - for a bondmate, one that needed help. To Nya, it didn't matter if it was male or female, young or old. So in the back of her mind, she was constantly accessing her surroundings and making decisions, talking to people, getting to know folks... and helping.

Zaira needed help if the Symenestra's behavior was any indication.

Nya tossed the Poi at the other Kelvic and turned, slipping into the crowd to close the distance between where she and the wolf had been towards where the woman was. She came up behind Zaira, sliding deftly between the woman and the Symenestra, shoving her gently backwards with her slim human form, creating space between her and the spiderman. And Nya would keep backing up, subtly and gently shoving Zaira backwards with her body by crowding her, making the gap larger - not taking her eyes off Voreasos. Nya locked gazes with the Symenestra and opened her eyes wide, pouring as much Djed as she could pull into her intense green eyes. She didn't bother using her voice. Nya's magic was very powerful (some said dirty) if it was sudden and unexpected. Her eyes bore into his, and her gaze sent a single piercing train of thought woven with an intense flash directly into Voreasos' brain using her competence of hypnotism: Run for your life. The thought was filled with a sudden intense sense of immediate danger. Nya was no stranger to death - the crunching of bones, the pain her prey felt when she brought them down suddenly, teeth sinking into the backs of their necks as her form usually tore the head from its body. She wove all that into the sudden unexpected attack so the thought was surrounded by a sudden powerful intense fear ... fear that encompassed all that her prey went through before she took them down.

It should be incredibly hard to resist, especially if it was unexpected.

[Kadarus]

"I know what a Symenestra is," he snapped, his tone sounding much like a schoolboy whose confidence was dashed by a correcting teacher. Kadarus held the Symenestra in nearly the same regard as he did the Zith, though he had too much bad blood with the winged flesh eaters to let anything edge them out of their rank. His smile vanished with a certain measure of relief, turning his head towards the direction the other kelvic was indicating. While there were some people who were so very comfortable in the hustle and flow of the city, sociable things eager to make friends, he was certainly not one of them. He didn't even like sleeping in inns on roadsides. It was an ever-tiring thing for him, trying to make sure young or dirty, thieving fingers stayed out of his coins, struggling to look personable. The airs he was forced to don stepping into society were as exhausting to him as carrying a boulder on his shoulders.

Kadarus watched with narrowed, wary eyes, the scene several paces away from them; all strangers, a blond human, the Benshira who had spilled the coals on his feet, and the hissing, angry Symenestra, shoving the dark skinned woman behind him. Curiously, he thought the action looked like herding...the hunter didn't know nearly enough about the spiderlings as he did the Zith, but from their notorious habits, he didn't like the possibly veiled, darker motivations of the thing. The Benshira looked annoyed, though, and from the lack of true fright in her face, he didn't move a single step. At the moment, it wasn't his problem.

The Benshira slipped away from the powder keg situation, waiting the spark, shuffling along, eyes cast to the ground, searching. "Heh. The Knights are always around to harass you when you haven't done anything. But when there's a real issue? Nowhere to be found. It's rather path - hey!" The feline kelvic, who he'd forgotten all about in his cynical musings - he was only half annoyed at the woman, but just as irritated with himself for mumbling to no one again - sprang off her bench, tossing the other tool into his quick arms. Kadarus dropped his own bag to the ground reflexively, cursing furiously as the new whetstone, and two of the cold candles went rolling out. Muttering, he glanced up, realizing the Benshira had made her way over, partly forced by the other kelvic's show of vigilance. "<Yes. Sorry,>" he responded swiftly in Benshira, shoiving the poi into the woman's arms before bending over to pick up his own goods - his curses renewing as he realized the cold candles where nowhere in sight.

"Hey. Stupid." Baring his teeth, Kadarus twisted his bent body to seek out the voice - and spotted a pycon, barely as tall as his boots, awkwardly holding the new candles at her sides like spears. "You'd lose your own furry ass in a place like this if it wasn't attached to your body, wouldn't you?" The hunter glowered at the clay woman, pulled the candle's effortlessly from her grip, and with the flick of a finger, knocked her to the ground. The pycon scrambled to her feet as Kadarus stood back up, dropping the candles into his gab, and kicked his heel, howling in fake pain as her foot squashed harmlessly on impact. "<I find near man,> " he further struggled to explain, once standing upright again. "<Banana hamock?>"

"You are gods awful at that language. It's almost your worst, mutt." Kadarus shot a glare towards his shoulder, where the pycon had appeared, rubbing a clay lump at the end of her leg back into the shape of a foot. "<He means to say, what are they? His Benshira stink. My name Finn. This, mongrel.>"

"What did I tell you about introducing me that way?" The pycon laughed, the sound like tin bells rattling in a ceaseless wind. Sighing, Kadarus' attention finally shifted back to the bigger picture - the other kelvic had seperated the Benshira from the spiderling, and was now staring at the thing in a manner that made his own skin crawl. If the Symenestra was protective enough to jump between the desert woman and a stranger with such hostility, it wasn't difficult to imagine how it would react to an angry kelvic.

"Enough!" he barked, shouldering his way between the women and the Symenestra, his body tensed like stretched steel cords, anticipating violence - from either end. Caution was key; if the spiderling hadn't eaten in several days, a single bite would be poisonous, if Kadarus did not have time to crush its skull or cleave it in two. He had no idea what the other kelvic could do, but he gave her the exct same measurement of wariness and suspicion he gave the poisonous one. "Quit the posturing. Unless you want to be releived the weight of your heads by one of the Knight's blades."

[Zaira]

She stumbled slightly, it felt like someone was pushing her, but in the crowd it really was not that out of the ordinary. Yet as she stumbled again from another nudge the woman stood up ready to see just what issues the person behind her had when something caught her eyes, the poi were held in a man’s hand and she darted forward to reclaim her toys.

Yet, what was surprising was the taller man, spoke her tongue. The Benshira blinked, surprised, even as he shoved the poi into her hands and bent in search of something lost before straightening. Yet her joy of finding another that spoke her tongue, turned to confusion and amusement as Kadarus spoke, or tried to. Zaira’s held tilted looking at the Kelvic before softly smiling, it was a higher voice, and Zaira looked down to the small woman made of clay.

As Finn spoke Zaira squatted coming down closer to the pycon’s height.

<”Ah I see. They are poi, for my fire dancing. Fire burns the wick within the metal balls, and I twirl them, it looks much better lit against a night sky.”> A shout had Zaira standing up away from Finn to look towards where she had left Vor and the other man, the other two.

<”Oh no. What are they saying?”> Zaira looked quickly from the group to the clay woman, worry marring her face before talking quick steps back towards the group.

“Vor?”

[Voreasos Alisier]

Vor did not know what took place after he tried to take Zaira away from the masses when the new female came to him. Fears over took him of death as he took a few steps back. His mind going blank and only one word came to be which was to run. Run as fast as he could away from the female yet he only took a few steps backwards.

It was the human that snapped him out from running away but his eyes just moved to him. He hated humans who were loud but he was out numbered here yet what bugged him the most was it was another Kelvic. It seemed they were like rabbits; popping up all over the place.

"Zaira, join my side please before blood is shed for you." He said loud enough for her to hear. His claws curled a bit waiting to attack and defend if he had to but he would not leave her here with anyone in this city.

He was biting his tongue, ready to call for his God if blood was spilled for aide yet he did not want to push his luck like last time. Yet he knew if it came to that he would call for Him for it meant he was to die anyway.