A sight for sore eyes. (Avara)

[Alexander Faircroft]

Timestamp: 40th Winter 516AV
Location: Endry-Vadas ( Alvadas, Endrakas Area)

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


The strange madness that was Alvadas seemed to get stranger. Venturing towards the southwest and deep into the large cavernous mess that was the city’s streets he found himself suddenly surrounded by grass. Huge blades of thick chest high grass finding it hard to move amongst the blades he was quite happy that at the very least his head poked out above the tips of it. Night had begun to creep into the city’s state and the smell of the winds over the flat grassland picked up filling the air with a distinct smell of summer despite it being mid-winter by this point.

Alex stuffed his hands into his thick leather jacket and began to press onwards through the grass surveying the tents that dotted the sparse spacing’s between the streets. And then Alex’s feet found a tumble into the open space of a glaring in the grass. The huge blades and open seeming sky leading into never ending openness. If he didn’t have to get back to the Cubacious Inn at some point soon to look after his charges he would have just slept out here under the starts for a while.

There was something peaceful about the quiet shifting of the blades and the soft sounds of crickets in the distance. In the midst of the quiet and the calm Alex took a seat leaning against one of the tents his black attire in the night coupled with his already quiet demeanour and the face this hood was up making him look like an illusory shadow that seemed to settle in with the scenery well.

His breaths were soft and slow calm amongst the madness however what drew his attention was the rustling of the blades in the distance his hand slowly. So very slowly slid over his form and beneath his jacket grasping a hold of the blade at his side. His best and quite possibly depending only line of defence.

[Avara Snowsong]

"Common." | "Vani." | Thoughts | Others After one too many wrong turns on the ever chaging streets of Alvadas Avara once again found herself lost. During her stay in the rather confounding city it had become something of a daily event. No matter what precautions she took they always seemed to end in vain, thanks to an odd streak of luck Avara had always managed to find her way to her destination before too much time passed. Tonight however things were not going quite as smoothly. Despite all of her efforts she had managed to get herself lost once again, and if she was being honest this was probably the worst place to be lost. If Avara's guess was correct she had somehow managed to get herself stuck in the Endrakas part of Alvadas. In normal circumstances this might not have been so bad, these were not normal circumstances. The grass that seemed to suddenly spring up around her was taller then her, which put Avara in a disadvantage in any kind of situation she could think of and there were a lot of situations. With a sigh she started to trudge forward keeping her eyes peeled for anything that seemed suspicious, not that she would be successful in actually spotting anything. As she continued to walk further into the seemingly endless wall of grass Avara continually flicked her eyes around her surroundings. It was unsettling to say the least, if only because she was unable to see anything around herself. Despite her growing apprehension Avara continued on, wrapping her arms firmly around her torso as she did so. Her cloak flowing loosely by her sides dragging a fraction a second behind her. Before long she managed to find an end to the otherwise seemingly endless sea of grass. Entering the clearing before her Avara let out a relieved sigh as she came to a stop barely two feet away from the wall of grass behind her. "Thank goodness." She says softly under her breath before sending a glance around the clearing. On her first quick look she didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, at least not for Alvadas anyways. A few tents were spattered across the clearing but otherwise it was relatively barren. Before Avara deemed it a good idea to let her guard down she dragged her eyes across the landscape, at a slower pace this time however. As she was about to deem herself paranoid she caught the briefest glimpse of what looked like another person. She was unsure of what she had seen, in fact there was a chance she had only thought she'd seen it. Despite that Avara stared into the distance to try and catch another glimpse of what she may have seen. With no solid evidence forthcoming Avara took a hesitant step back towards the grass behind her. "H-hello?" She called in a soft voice, not entirely sure she wanted anything to answer. To be quite honest the more she thought about it the more she realized how idiotic her decision had actually been. It was too late to take back her choice however, and the best thing Avara could do was get ready to run.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Two words permeated the still air around him. An exclamation of relief. He shifted his eyes beneath the hood glancing towards the source of the voice. A woman slightly shorter than the grass that surrounded them. Thankfully as the figure moved inwards into the scale the combination of the darker night, and the black of his coat made him seemingly blend into the shadows. And that was enough to let him know that he needed to stay still and move slowly.

The word hello echoed like a cool wind through the clearing and Alex let it hang for a second. Alex spoke calmly the soft subtle airiness of his voice carrying on the wind of the surrounding emptiness seemingly coming at her from all sides. His words were soft almost inviting as he spoke.
“Hello there.” He didn’t move instead opting to stay still and used the shadows for cover just to have a quiet conversation in the middle of nowhere. “You seem scared. Don’t be. There’s nobody here besides you and I. And I don’t mean you harm.” His voice still carried but with a soft soothing edge.

After she’d responded to the two phrases he’d start to move, rising like an obelisk of shadow within the darkened starry night looming above them. His demeanour over all appearing intimidating at first glance however upon a short look would show both of his hands open and away from his form palms towards her. An overall demeanour of peace emanating from him as he held the good distance from her as she passed. Easily towering above her but all of his blades hidden beneath the loose flowing blackness of his jacket.

“Sorry for the slight scare.” His words definitely apologetic but again still light and carrying on the wind. However in the distance there was something looming. Not malevolent, but in the distance.

[Avara Snowsong]

"Common." | "Vani." | Thoughts | Others Silence was the first thing that greeted Avara, which was quite alright with her particularly since it had been her expected result. In fact she would have gladly taken silence over the response she did receive, not that it was bad just unexpected. Sadly, unexpected was not one of her favorite things at the moment. Particularly when it came to encounters with people she didn't know in the slightest in a city that was not overly fond of Vantha at the moment. "Hello there," Avara instantly felt herself stiffen as she sent another quick glance around the clearing, trying and failing to pinpoint where exactly the voice had come from. "You seem scared. Don't be. There's nobody here besides you and I. And I don't mean you harm." At this Avara actually let out a small snort, because to be honest she found the part about not being scared slightly ridiculous. After all here was a voice she couldn't even locate the owner of in the middle of nowhere. In her eyes there were multiple reasons to be scared. Unfortunately a snort did not really count as a valid response, and her parents had at the every least drilled manners into her over the year. "Right, that's believable," Avara answered mumbling the final two words as an addition. Despite wanting to say more she felt keeping quiet was the better option at the moment, not to mention she still didn't have a great grasp on the common language. It made it rather difficult to formulate some responses without reverting into her native Vani. There wasn't much time for her to ponder that small predicament however as she sent a quick look over her shoulder towards the grass behind her. It would be so simple to just walk backwards into it, then she wouldn't have to deal with someone who may or may not be telling the truth. However Avara had never really been one to run from a tough situation, and this didn't really qualify as tough more nerve-wracking then anything else. With a small sigh she started to walk forward still not wanting to get too far from the one thing that gave her the slightest chance of getting away. She kept her eyes peeled as she drew closer to the center of the clearing not particularly fond of the open space. "Sorry for the slight scare." Avara swiftly turned her head in the direction the voice had come from, finally being close enough to actually tell the direction. As her eyes searched the blackness beside her a figure quickly came into view, a very large one at that then again most figures were large to her. She took a moment to scan the now known male up and down being careful not to let her eyes linger in any one place for too long. After a few seconds she let her eyes land on his face for a brief moment before flicking her gaze off to the side. If she had to sum up her opinion of this man so far it would be intimidating, if she was allowed two it would be intimidating and oddly pretty. "It's fine, I'm just on edge." Avara says in response after taking a few seconds to actually formulate it in her head. Afterwards she turned her attention back to the man, whom she was still unsure of. Currently she was debating saying a quick farewell and once again trying to find her way back to the inn, but internally she could once again feel her parents disapproval at such a quick exit. "Avara." She stated after a few brief seconds with a small inclination of her head. It wasn't much but it was an introduction at the very least.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


At least the overall approach hadn’t gone down too badly. Even with the small utterance of irritation and possible disbelief in his actions. Or rather his words.
“On edge is putting it mildly. If you moved any stiffer you’d be like a plank of wood.” A small joke to try and ease the air of tension he’d caused. Still though he didn’t take a step forwards that would have been a bad idea, with the tension level between the pair of them already on what seemed to be a knife edge. He could see from her positioning she was ready to bolt should she have to. And if she did he wouldn’t give chase.

He tried to get a good glance of her eyes to tell if she was being sincere in her actions or not but with a skilled hand at keeping her head down he didn’t get a look at them not a clear shot anyway.
“Pleasure to meet you Avara.” He spoke slipping his hands back into his jacket and shaking his hood back to let his head be fully well seen. “I’m Alex. And I’m pretty safe to assume that like me you’re a little lost out here in the middle of the grasses at night?” He curled the corner of his mouth into a small smile. Everything he did was to ease the air between them and settle it back to a regular conversation though it seemed as if she was on edge of a number of reasons not just him.

However what finally hit him was the fact of her height. She was so small to him by comparison. Barely reaching level with his chest. He didn’t make a comment on it after all Nature had an odd way of playing with people. And in the distance there was a small low cloud of dust beginning to roam into sight. Something that Alex didn’t see because it was behind him and it was doubtful Avara could see because of her height.

[Avara Snowsong]

"Common." | "Vani." | Thoughts | Others “On edge is putting it mildly. If you moved any stiffer you’d be like a plank of wood.” Avara's lips twitched upwards at that particular comment and she found herself actively trying to keep a laugh from making it's way past her lips. It also made her realize he was right, with a bit of effort she managed to get her shoulders to relax slightly but that was it for the time being. On the other hand she wondered how he could be so relaxed it didn't seem natural to her, then again if she was being honest nothing in city seemed particularly natural to her why should the people be any different. “Pleasure to meet you Avara.” Relaxed and polite, not a commonly seen combination at least not in Avara's experience. As he began to speak again Avara gave a small tilt of her head as she listened carefully to what he said. “I’m Alex. And I’m pretty safe to assume that like me you’re a little lost out here in the middle of the grasses at night?” Avara let out a sigh at his very correct assumption and dropped her head forward before letting out a small laugh. "Lost is too nice, more...I don't know." Avara said with a sigh as she gave her head a shake before taking in what was supposedly a calming breath. After a few seconds of staring at the ground she turned her gaze upwards as she dropped her arms to her side resting a hand on her hip as she did so. She focused her attention towards Alex's face for a few seconds trying to get anything from his features. But reading people had never exactly been her forte. He had a small smile on his face and that made Avara purse her lips slightly before turning her attention to his chest, which just happened to be what she could look at comfortably instead of continuing to stare at the ground."You seem...odd." Avara stated taking a few moments to choose the last word to tack on to the sentence. She generally was not one to worry about what people were and were not, but certain circumstances had made her more cautious. She waited for whatever his response may be in a tense silence, making sure to keep her gaze fixed anywhere but on Alex's. It felt weird to not be actively talking to him, however she was more paranoid after coming into this city then she had ever been before. Not that it really mattered she assumed her reactions would be similar in this situation no matter the extenuating circumstances. She assumed staring in one place however was a little on the rude side, as such she tried to find something to look at other then Alex. There wasn't much, the ground and the sky other then that there was just a lot of Alex.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"


Seeing her overall tension fall and seeing the small curl at the corner of her mouth he knew he’d pushed the right point. Trying to alleviate the feeling of tension that he’d brought up.
“Well being lost isn’t the worst thing. That’s what Alvadas does. It makes people lose their bearings to find new people.” It was a fair statement still carried in that airy soft tone. However noticing the air had cleared somewhat he took a couple of steps forward slow and practiced more to make sure it didn’t ignite spooking her again.

“I seem odd? How so?” He cocked his head to the side as her eyes finally swung up to meet his A brief glance enough for him to see the colours playing at changing her eyes. Or at least threatening too. By this point he’d had enough exposure to the change of colours in the vantha’s eyes to tell. Even when she dropped her gaze down to his chest. Given her height it was understandable however when she began to swing her head around he let a small smile lay on his face as he spoke.

“Y’know you don’t have to look everywhere else. I said I meant no harm and I mean that.” Still though he hadn’t displayed the myriad blades hidden beneath his jacket. Though as he was about to speak out again the ground began to rumble steadily almost like the beat of a heart, rhythmic but not steady. “What the heck is that…” Alex blurted out swinging his head around to see the cloud of dust billowing up from the edge of the grass.
Great, just flipping great. “Sorry about this.” Alex made a dart forwards. Open arm trying to catch a hold of Avara around her waist and pull her out of the way before the thundering got any closer. If he’d managed to grab a hold of her or not in the next heartbeat the first of the myriad of horses poured through the clearing the plume of dust rising in their wake.

“Well ya don’t see that every day.” He spoke with an almost matter of fact tone like it wasn’t one of the stranger things he’d seen pour through the city. At least not with the river of molten sugar and the huge death block of Ice in the avanthalan area. With rather relieved look and on one knee so he was around equal height with her after the dive he now could see her face clearly and that more or less confirmed exactly what he’d suspected. “Well that makes three.” The only words he spoke afterwards without any real context.