A Snowy Shadow (Private Aydan and Renata ONLY)

[Guest]

Snow gently fell upon the frozen town. There was plenty of snow already out on the streets. People of the city could be seen coming out of their humble abodes, not letting the weather get in the way of their everyday life. The small fishing town's harbor was quite busy as fishers were struggling to unfreeze their ships so they could get them out of the harbor and make their living. Kids were running and playing in the streets, enjoying the first chance that their mothers would let them out and about to enjoy the first snowfall of the year.

Most of the kids were heavily bundled up in coats and jackets. Their hands hidden away inside of mitts and gloves to keep them from the children's frozen molding material, as they formed balls to throw at each other and rough piles of snow in their attempts to create a man of snow. One kid in particular was having quite a fun time. He was quite used to this weather, and his attire showed it. He wore just simple boots and a flamboyantly light blue robe with a gray cloak. His light orange hair was coated here and there with hefty amounts of snow. This did not bother the boy. The cold was something his family had made him get used to.

He was running up and down the street trying to start something grand. He had several followers at the moment, and it was becoming the most amazing things. Aydan was in the midst of starting a full scale snowball fight around the town. He was going around snowballs in both bare hands and throwing them at groups of kids, starting a snowball fight between them and then realizing Aydan was there, they started to chase and get him. He would dash off and lead them back to where everyone else was in the town park.

He would stay and play for a bit, then slip away to go get more people, with a mischievous grin upon his face. He was glad he woke up early, and Hanayuki was still sound asleep in their room in the inn. She would not have approved of him doing this, but Aydan was wanting to have fun. What better way to have fun than to throw snowballs at complete strangers around an unfamiliar town. Aydan ran down the cobblestone street and slid around the corner. He recalled on his way this way to get the last group of kids that there was another group of kids in a small vacant lot up the way. He proceeded down the road, not really paying mind to the voice in the back of his head saying that none of the buildings looked familiar. Course why would the look familiar, they were all covered in the white fluffy snow perfect for packing together.

He was approaching what he thought to be the corner, he bent down and expertly formed a snowball. He then paused before the corner and waited. He heard the faint crunch of snow as someone was walking through it. It must be one of the kids, Aydan thought gleefully. He jumped around the corner and as he made it out to the open, he threw the snowball. Instantly he regretted it. For  before his eyes was not a group of kids like he originally thought, just some person, not a kid, quietly walking all on her own. The snowball which was not even aimed at all, had the mindset that Aydan had totally meant for it to hit this person, and so it did just that hitting the person in the middle of her back. Aydan froze in place. He did not mean to do that. It was an accident, and he was unsure of how upset the older person would be about the situation. He hoped they would be relatively understanding. At least Aydan was not going to run away without allowing the person the chance to turn around and at least see whom hit them with the compressed ball formed of snow.

[Ren Caverly]

Ren was, for the most part, used to the cold. She had no particular fondness for the weather, and had not been one to run around in the cold as a child. In fact, Renata running around in the cold was liable to end in two things. The first was less likely, but still common in the cold. First she could get sick. Ren was always fairly small and frail looking, so the cold sunk into her body easily and mercilessly, making the sniffles start before she even got home. Her parents often encouraged her to bundle her up in thick clothes to try to keep warm, as it was highly impractical to get sick every time a cold wind blew through down. Unfortunately their effort had generally not passed the insistence stage into some sort of actual aid for their daughter. She put on what she could in the morning rush. The morning rush was a consistent thing, as Ren hated to wake up early. She was happy to stay up late into the darkness, a comforting serenity even if she could never love herself for her like powers. Or she might simply stay up all night, drifting off into a daze throughout the day. So she got sick a lot in the cold weather, but she was grown now, odd as it seemed to her. She had even had a birthday recently. A day celebrated at her guild hall by only herself and her shadow. She lit a few candles on a cupcake and amused herself by manipulating the shadows made in the dark room. She could really make a pretty sight, if she would ever show anyone.

The second side effect of putting Ren in cold weather was slipping and sliding. Even if there was no ice present, even in the warmth of summer, Ren was clumsy. She could fall over standing completely still, or manage to slide out of a chair, but she could probably turn around and make it across a tightrope for some reason. It was her own controlled chaos, or uncontrolled calm. Some people questioned how she could do the strange things she did without knowing how she was, but she had never had need to call her movements into question. They were just how she was, and that was not good enough for most, so she felt nothing good could come of trying to explain her flaws. Even if she could eventually be convinced that this was not a flaw, she also found no need to explain the good. What better way to ruin something nice by scrutinizing it, chipping away at it, measuring and judging and removing the whimsical quality of life and art. No, she preferred to leave it alone. Of course, that didn’t mean she preferred all the falling she did in the cold. Dropping school books, tearing her tights, sliding on her face. Those were quite unpleasant, and even this morning she had been struggling not to make too great a fool of herself. A daily struggle for the young woman.

Ren had been up since the last evening. She was up until dawn, and as she sun crept over her bed she climbed in and pulled the blankets up over her face. She had woken in the twilight and wandered out of her small bedroom once she was dressed. Thick black tights, two layers, so her legs could be mistaken for thin black painted pegs coming out from under her mid-thigh length brick red and straw yellow skirt. Her mother had insisted the skirt was pretty because it wasn’t just red and yellow, it was brick red and straw yellow, hard and soft, and even if Ren had almost nothing her mother had ever given her, she did still have that skirt. She also had on her black dark gray hoodie, the sleeves of which easily enveloped both her hands, which were, at the moment, neatly tucked in the center pocket of her hoodie. She was used to the cold now, from all her time living on the street. She didn’t like it, but it didn’t make her sick very often now.

As she walked down the road she was had her shadow in front of her, darkening the glint of the sun against the snow and ice nearby. She could see better in the darkness anyway. Her shadow still appeared normal, except that it should have been behind her. Suddenly she felt a force against her back and let out a small squeak. Her foot was just about to land, and in her distraction it hit at a slight angle, causing the distance between her feet to be greater than she had accounted for. She started slipping forward but with the help of her elbows, trying desperately to wiggle free to catch herself, she moved her momentum backwards and ended up slipping, yet again, before finally landing on her back. Ow… she thought with a small whimper. Her shadow had retreated down under her in the chaos of her fall, and as she pulled her sleeves out of the pocket she gradually got to her feet. Her face was turning pink as she finally got up, and she pulled her hood up over her head before turning around and seeing the boy who had apparently thrown a snowball at her. Cheeks turning red she mumbled “Sorry…” whether he could hear it or not. Logically it was his fault, and she didn’t need to apologize, but she found herself so embarrassing that she felt this merited an apology.

[Guest]

Aydan could not believe the site before him. A mere snowball, causing an adult to fall over. He wasn't even that clumsy. He did not think he had threw the clump of snow that hard. He heard the whimper of the girl as she fell to the ground. Aydan was unsure of how what to do next. Should he still stay or should he leave quickly before she got back up. Just as he was thinking about leaving quickly, The girl started to work herself back up, and Aydan froze for a moment, he blinked and rubbed his eyes. All he had seen was the back of the girl's head as she got up, but the hairstyle had reminded him of his late sister.

Then after she had pulled herself back up to her feet, she placed her hood over her head and turned back towards Aydan. He could tell from this distance that she said something, but he could not hear anything. Aydan was unsure of what to do. So he said out loud, where he knew he could be heard, “Sorry ma'am. I had thought you were someone else. Didn't mean to cause you to fall. You okay?” The least he could do in his mind was apologize for what he did. I mean he still has to respect those older than him, cause he is just a kid,

He took a step forward, cautiously. He still did not know what this adult woman would do to him for hitting her, though something inside him was comparing this mysterious woman to Natalia. They did not even look the same, and his sister certainly had a more suitable wardrobe for the weather. What could one expect though it was traumatic experience on the young lad. He paused on his approach and outreached his right hand, and then formed a fist with his hand and brought it quickly to chest, which caused a soft thump. “I am Aydan.”

Why he just introduced himself he wasn't quite sure. Then again he probably should have ran off a long while ago, the only thing to do now is to see what this person did.

[Ren Caverly]

A lot of people found the general clumsiness of Ren Caverly baffling. If they paid really close attention they would notice how contradictory her gracefulness really was. If she paid attention, she was liable to fall on her face. It was her mind that tripped up her legs, not the nothing that she often tripped over. Now add a snowball, make her self-conscious, put in some dangerous terrain(it was all dangerous as far as Ren was concerned), and slam on her thinking about where her feet were going. It landed her feet in the air, easily.

Ren was on her feet in the end. That was just fine. She could walk away. She could be super embarrassed, and even colder than before. Perfect… Oh, great. He was talking. Ma’am? Am I a Ma’am? I’m a ball of clumsiness…. Uh… okay… She bit her lip and just turned a bit more red. She gave a small wave of her hand, which then turned into a bit of flailing, to dismiss his concern. The flailing probably only added to the chaos of it all. Finally she was stable again and she said, “I-I’m fine. You’re okay. N-nothing bad happened.”

They boy walked over to Ren. She kept her lip between her teeth, which probably wasn’t a good plan, because of the cold. Her lips were getting chapped, and would be in a lot of pain by the time she got back to Lamia Scale, no doubt. The boy, Aydan, hit his chest, and told her his name. She smiled gently at him. She was anxious and shy, but he was a kid, and he had been so concerned for her after she’d fallen. Okay, maybe it wasn’t intense concern, but she still appreciated it. “Uhm, hi. I’m Ren. Nice to meet you. I, uh…. yeah, er…. Who did you think I was?” she asked. It didn’t make sense that he would just chuck snowballs at people. At least not to her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d played with friends in the snow. Had she ever? It didn’t matter, so she shrugged it off and focused more on the boy.

[Guest]

The person in front of him was still seemed really nervous. She said she was fine, yet Aydan still thought that the fall she had just taken was rather bad. Especially since the only thing that happened to make her fall was a snowball hitting her in the back. How clumsy can one be? Aydan didn’t think he was that clumsy, maybe it would happen with age? Wait weren’t you supposed to get wiser and smarter as you grew up? So wouldn’t you therefore get less clumsy?

Aydan pushed these thoughts out of his mind as he stepped forward to introduce himself. He still did not know why he did that, he had no idea if this lady would do and if she even cared what his name was. So upon seeing her smile at him after just saying his name he was rather taken aback. Why would me saying my name make her smile? Aydan shifted awkwardly from foot to foot.

The woman introduced herself as Ren. She asked him about whom he had thought she was. To this question Aydan was unsure of how to exactly respond. His gaze turned to the ground and then he kicked the snow covered street with his brown boot. “Well..” Aydan said, “I don’t know who they were exactly, someone I saw earlier. I don’t know many people around here really. Was just having a little bit of fun…” Aydan’s voice trailed off on this last part. Kicking the ground again, he stepped back and mumbled “Sorry.”

Aydan really had been doing nothing, just trying to have fun. He had never really had a chance once he had show talent in his magic to be a kid, and Aydan wanted to have fun. There would be more time to go back to his studies. For now though he wanted fun, which was the whole reason he had snuck out of his room at the inn in the first place. He shouldn’t have been throwing snowballs at strangers, though he mischievously grinned because he had found it fun. After grinning he quickly went back to a straight face and looked back at Ren to see what she had to say about it.

[Ren Caverly]

The fall Ren had taken might appear bad to other people. She might be tiny, fragile, and take hits harder than most. She also probably had bruises under her clothes just from how much of a klutz she was, but she didn’t think of it as abnormal. How could she question what had always been? It was like suddenly questioning why you have finger nails. She just accepted it.

It was uncomfortable to talk to strangers. Ren was basically a spokeswoman for Do Not Talk To Strangers and yet that’s what she was doing. Honestly, she’d talked to a lot of strangers in her life, because she didn’t keep acquaintances. They left when they realized she wasn’t getting any better. Or they died. Or well, she didn’t know a lot of people very well, that was all there was to it. Oh well, talking to a child couldn’t hurt, right? Even if he was going around throwing snowballs at random people. It wasn’t really the best impression.

Aydan seemed somewhat shy. At least he was kicking the ground and looking away, that was the body language of someone being bashful. So he had meant to throw a snowball at just someone He didn’t know them. Maybe they’d done something to him? Oh, fun. It sounded like he was just running around and playing. “Its okay. It isn’t like you were being mean spirited,” she said gently. He was definitely a kid. Actually he acted like she did, which she noticed with a bit of embarrassment.  He definitely had a different attitude that she did though. Ornery. He was acting shy, but she felt like in the end, he was a lot more confident than she was. Again, that was embarrassing, but she tried not to think of it. “Are you just travelling through town then?” she asked, since he’d said he didn’t know people around here. He didn’t say yet so she assumed he hadn’t just moved here. A kid who played with strangers was apt to meet people quickly. Ren wasn’t stupid, but she wasn’t going to make these observations out loud.



[Exit. Ren is no longer in thread]

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