Shurikai

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

Kest

Kest had been too busy watching his sister to hear much of what the boy had said to Veragwen. Mara came first until Endiness got over its disdain for any being that wasn't human. For the young woman on stage, who now seemed slightly familiar to him, to go out and say she believed in equality between all races... it was very brave. Not many people, famous or no, wanted it that way. Mara always had courage to spare, he knew she really had wanted to go up there and shake her tail with the best of them. The fiery personality she hid far to well would come out soon. He could feel it. Then things might get hairy. Just like how that young man had turned from the crowd just as Mara had gotten on stage. Was he a racist too? As an older brother, all he wanted to do was punch the kid in the face, but he restrained himself. He didn't want to look bad in front of his possible life companion.

The young man snapped back into reality when the guard he was trying to ask out earlier spoke his name.
"Yes, ma'am." he said, taking her coin. Kest went off in search of food. While today's festival was mostly comprised of spicy foods, he was certain there was a something the frightened boy could eat. He went from stall to stall, checking each and every food on display. He came across a tasty ale, but as the boy was young, Vera was on duty, and Mara couldn't drink, he would be on his own. He was sad to learn they were only in town for the one day.

The stall with the ale pointed out someone that sold water and mild meats. Veragwen had only given him enough money to get the kid something to eat and drink, but he decided that a guard would probably need something too. He ended up using his own money and bought food and drink for Vera, Mara, and himself. Kest hurried back over to the shrine where everyone waited, his arms full of food and water.
"I brought enough for everyone!"

Mara

Mara looked at the singer, a spark of mischief growing her eyes as she took the woman's hand. Not because she planned anything. No, this was her way of telling the woman beside her that she had no idea how much crap the half-mer doesn't put up with. It was kind of funny. She smiled,
"Thank you," she started, "my name is Mara. What is yours?" Once on stage, she looked out at the gathering. One of them had given the kind dancer a foul look. She wondered why as he made his way to the back of the pack. She decided to focus on her new companion.

Once she snapped back to general populous, there was visible surprise from the crowd. Most humans thought the merpeople were nothing but fish. A union with one was like mating with a beast, their children not capable of speech. It was just trash spouted by religious fanatics and jealous wives. Mara found it quite humorous. "If you show me some of your moves, I will do my best to learn the steps."

[Ebonfort] The Edge of the Map

Ahh, finally some spring to end the retched chill of winter. At least, that was how Dain felt when Saffra finally rolled into Silvermist. His joy had been short lived, as his superior, Kalim, decided to ruin everything by sending him off to Azure Strand. He had only left Silvermist once, and that was when he became a knight of Ebonfort. He got a large lockbox from the barracks and packed his armor away. Azure Strand was dangerous right now for a Knight, no point in getting killed over the uniform he wore.
Before taking off to places unknown to the little fairy, he made a stop at the local jeweler, purchasing a polished common stone on a steel chain. A small piece of home.

Dain fluttered outside the gates, staring at the guard. A young boy had just gone passed him. At least the guard was observant enough to notice him. It took the fairy clearing his throat for the guard to even realize he was there. Really? How hard was it to see a fairy? He had the same problem while on his way to the city. He cursed the wagon driver that almost ran him over. Luckily, they repaid him by giving him a ride to Azure Strand. Good thing too, since the trunk he carried his armor in was starting to get heavy.
He smiled, though, when the guard jumped. If this was the city's protection, he wasn't surprised that they were having issues.

Kalim had warned Dain not to draw too much attention to himself, but the tiny man couldn't help himself. Mischief was his middle name, or it would be if he had a middle name.
"Could you point me toward the Knight's barracks, please?" the guard huffed and reluctantly gave him directions.
Between flying and walking, Dain felt he was making great time. The lockbox he carried caught a little attention, mostly curious looks from merchants. In general, people didn't really notice him at all until he took to the air. He didn't mind too much, a little awe now and then was good for the bigger species.

As Dain approached the barracks he noticed an increase in the amount of knights. They sure weren't making an effort to leave the area. No wonder no one wanted them around. Lazy bums. He entered the building and swiftly located the one in charge.
"Dain Crest, checking in. My superior sent a letter ahead of me, detailing my mission. I hope everything is in order." he said and landed on the desk. The knight looked up from a ledger and squinted at the fairy.
"Oh, your the one that crazy cat sent." the knight sniffed, "I thought you'd be.. taller. Yeah, the preparations have been made. You should be expected."
He rolled his eyes and looked sharply at the knight, speaking before he left the building, "Thank you, sir. Now, I will be on my way."

Kalim had given Dain a full briefing about what he was to do. Now, all he needed to do was find the boat! But wait, shouldn't he stock up on some food and water first? Perhaps he should confer with the captain of the.. err... Azure.. Risen! Yes, that had to be it. Couldn't be difficult to find, after all, it was a brand new boat. He decided to fly down the warf above the heads of the humans and assortment of other beings that were running around. The salty air was a stark contrast to the spice of the forest. It was different, but soothing. Why hadn't he come here sooner?

It was then the fairy laid his eyes on the Azure Risen. Compared to the other vessels, it was a lot cleaner. Quite beautiful, in fact. Dain smiled and made his way over to the man standing by the gangplank. He noticed someone was already speaking to the man.
Its that kid from earlier..
Tired from flying the whole way, he lighted upon a nearby stack of cargo waiting to be brought aboard and set his case down. He waited for the boy to finish speaking before he asked,
"Excuse me sir, are you the captain of this amazing watercraft?"
Upon inspection, he noticed the letters on the side of the vessel. They read Azure Rising. He frowned, upset with himself for not remembering what the boat's name was.

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

"Y-yeah." Kest was surprised that Veragwen had remember his name. They had only met briefly once before. It was the day after he and his sister had arrived in Seles. Some might think that a man admiring a woman in uniform is a bit creepy, but he didn't care. She helped them settle in to life here.

For the next week, all Kest would talk about was Veragwen. Marmalade found it adorable and teased him every time he mentioned the guardswoman. Now he had a chance to talk to her in a social setting... and he was ruining his chance! A flustered young man stole her attention before he could ask if she would be off at all during the festival. Kest wondered if there was anything he could do to help, but decided to let Vera do her job. Instead, he looked back to make sure his sister was okay.

Everyone looked back into the crowd, at the mer-girl. They were either angry or disgusted. Marmalade looked around. Surely the entertainer didn't mean her. There must be some little girl behind her. Seeing no one, she looked back to the stage and pointed at herself with a quizzical expression. At first, she was going to decline, no sense in riling them into a mob. Plus she didn't know how to dance. Of all thing she learned, that wasn't one. A voice behind her told her to do it. Surely her subconscious wasn't so masochistic..?

Realizing it was a person and not her imagination, Mara felt like there was no backing out now. She walked forward and the crowd actually split to let her pass. Was this what it was like to have respect? A small swell of pride rose inside of her, but died once she reached the performer.
"I don't know how to dance.." she said quietly, feeling increasingly embarrassed. She looked out and saw Kest watching her. He shot her a questioning look, but smiled none the less.

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

Accepted, of course.

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

"This is soooo much fun!" Marmalade was always the first to join in on fun. She made Kest buy different colored handkerchiefs they could wear during the celebration. She herself hadn't been able to buy them because 'They didn't serve finners.' Kest wanted to give the merchant a piece of his mind, but seeing his little sisters eager face forced him to reconsider.

They had just moved to Seles. It was smaller than most of the other towns they had been to, but it was always the same for Marmalade. Glares, profanity, whispered gossip. It wasn't fair, its not her fault she was born different. Kest noticed the lack of any sort of xenophobia all day. Maybe people are more focused on these silly myths than berating a single mer-girl.

"Oh! Kest, look at that woman over there! She sounds so lovely.." The two made their way toward a growing crowd. There a woman was singing and dancing a song dedicated to the first dragon. Marmalade swayed gently to the tune while Kest himself took a look around.

The shrine itself was very imposing. The history behind it was more mysterious than the events that led to the explosion of the Divine Tree. If that even happened. What really caught his eye was the young woman sitting nearby. He felt his palms grow sweaty and knew he was about to make himself look like a fool in front of this beauty. He walked up to her as casually as possible, nearly tripping over himself in the process. He chuckled nervously as he reached her position.
"Hey!-- I mean... uh, hi." Kest rubbed the back of his neck and looked around, his mind racing for something, anything, to say. He hoped she couldn't see the panic on his face as him mind went completely blank. "Nice, er, weather.. we are.. having. Right?" his voice seemed to echo across the entire area. Good thing most of the lanterns were red. He hoped she wouldn't be able to tell he was blushing.

As the tune went on, Marmalade swung her hand out to get her brother's attention, startled when he wasn't next to her.
"Brother?" she called out, but noticed where he had gone and who he was talking to. She smiled and turned back toward the music.

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

Its good. Well done. :)

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

Alright! The post for the setting is up. Feel free to post before me. XD

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

The town of Seles.
The whole population had come together to bring their annual festivities into full swing. The entire celebration lasted for a little over a week, giving people from all over Endiness a chance to participate in the Dragon Festival. This day was only the first of eight, it celebrated the Red-Eyed Dragoon. Each day revered one of the seven mythical beings, bringing out different games and exotic foods.

It had taken Seles more time to grow as a community than most of the other small villages. This was attributed to how everyone kept the events at the Divine Tree a secret. Word spread several years later and people of all walks of life flocked to the area. While they were disappointed that Dart and Shana had already passed, rumors that they had hid some of the dragoon spirits within the village causing many to set up residence. The locale has been scoured many times, but to this day, no one has found evidence of a secret chamber or really anything.

As the sun fell, the streets came to life. The soft hum of chatter could be heard across the whole area as the streets were lined with paper lanterns of differing colors, lighting up the buildings in a beautiful assortment of reds, greens, yellows, and many others. At the center of everything was the Monument of Dragons. The entire town was spread out around this statue. It depicted a dragon crawling out if the stone. No one knew what it meant as it was donated to the town as an anonymous gift.

Stalls were set up all around the monument. Prizes varied from cute plush animals to hand crafted wooden ones. The food were even more numerous as people came from all over the world. Simple comfort foods from Serido to elegantly decadent creations of Deningrad to exotic wingly desserts. This was the only place you could get them all in one day.
To celebrate the fire dragon spirit, the town showcased spicy foods and games that focused on the color red. Many of the towns folk were dressed in colors reminiscent of fire or wore red dragon costumes.

The games were mostly comprised of small easy ones, usually for children. There were few stalls that provided a good challenge for the adults, but everyone was really looking forward to the finale on the eighth day. A friendly tournament to decide the strongest person in Endiness. The prize money was nothing to be scoffed at either. 5,000 gold coins was enough to entice anyone.

Legend of Dragoon rp!

Bump! Blue-sea is available!

The Legend of Dragoon: Awakened Fate

Yes and no. I'm easily distracted so it takes me a while to write intro posts. I wanted it prepared for when it was time to get started, but it looks like I might not finish it for at least a couple hours. At most, a couple days.